Heritage From the Lord

When these tarts were out of oven, they were unevenly colored and some egg custards were slightly over done. My oven is old and not working very well, and I am longing for a bigger built in oven with all the essential functions for baking and grilling. I am using a table top Belling oven for years and if I were to get a built in oven, I have to do a major kitchen makeover, something which I dread very much.
These egg tart shells are the cookie-like pastry type which is easier and faster to work with. The other type of tart shell is puff pastry which is more popular, I think.  Elder son tried one and said it's not a "WOW!" but it is not too bad, better than some store bought, I agree with him. I have tried another homemade recipe by a friend's sister and the tart shells are better than this. This friend's sister had learnt from a professional cooking school for pastry chefs. I hope she can share the recipe. Thank you Christine for your recipe. It is good but not "WOW!" or could it be the way I make them?  I blame my oven.



Cantonese Egg Tarts
Christine's Recipes
Makes about 14-16 egg tarts



Ingredients of Crust
225 gm plain flour
125 gm butter
55 gm icing sugar
1 egg, whisked
a dash of vanilla extract

Ingredients of custard
3 egg
110 gm caster sugar
225 gm hot water
85 gm evaporated milk
1/2 tsp[ vanilla extract

Method (making Crust)

• Place butter at room temperature until softened. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in color.
• Add in whisked egg, half at a time, beat over low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
• Sift in flour in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions with a spatula, and make sure all ingredients combine well. Knead into dough.
• Roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thickness. Cut dough with a cookie cutter that is just a bit smaller than your tart tin in size. Line dough in the middle of tart tins, one by one.Lightly press the dough with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides. While pressing the dough, turn the tart tin clockwise/anti-clockwise in order to make an even tart shell. Trim away any excess dough.

Method (baking custard)

• Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
• Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water. Mix well.
• Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a tea pot. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.

Method (baking tarts)

• Preheat oven to 200C. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.
• Lower the heat to 180C. Keep an eye on them. Once you see the custard being puffed up a bit, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked though. Just insert a toothpick into the custard. If it stands on its own, it's done.

Notes

• Placing tarts at the lower rack in oven could cook crusts easily before the egg custard being heated up too quickly. At the very last stage, pull the oven door open a few inches. This method is to avoid custard from being puffed up too high. The custard would collapse once they are cooled down otherwise.

Due to uneven heat distribution, some of the egg custard are slightly overcooked.

 Zaachaeus the Tax Collector- Luke 19

We had a fruitful Lead Teachers Meeting last Sunday. The SS coordinator started with a devotional study of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector- Luke 19. Despite being hated by people, Zacchaeus was treated differently by Jesus and our mission of teaching children can be effective by looking at how Zaachaeus was received by Jesus.

These are the 4 points:

1. Zacchaeus was singled out by Jesus. There was a crowd waiting for Jesus when he entered Jericho.
    Zacchaeus being a short man had to climb a sycamore tree to see what Jesus was like. But Jesus zeroed  
    right in on the short man in the tree.

    (Identify a child in her class)

2. Zaachaeus was called by his name. Jesus had never met him before, but Jesus called him by his name:

    (Make the child feel special)

3. Jesus wanted to spend time with Zaachaeus. He was surprised to hear that Jesus want to stay at his house
 
    (Spend your time with the child, pray for him)

4. Jesus affirmed his birth status. By inviting himself to the tax collector's home meant an offer of forgiveness,
    mercy, acceptance and love by God.

    (Identify any obstacles that obstruct child's spiritual growth)

"We want every child to feel known, loved  and significant and to have any obstacles to growth quickly identified and overcome."  Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions.


'Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court."     Psalm 127:3-5