How to make egg tarts

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-home-made-egg-tarts/?ALLSTEPS

Egg tart is one of the delicacies that can be found in most Asian countries, especially in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Egg tart was introduced to Hong Kong as a kind of “dim sum” (snack) during the 1940s. Nowadays, egg tarts come in all kind of flavors such as milk tarts, honey-egg tarts, ginger-flavored egg tarts, chocolate egg tarts, green-tea-flavored egg tarts, and even bird's nest tarts. Although there are all kinds of egg tarts in the market, I still think that the original flavor egg tart tasted the best.
I would like to introduce this delicious egg tart recipe to those who has never taste it before and also loves pastries. Try to bake this for your loved ones and I am sure that it will brighten up their days. Although these are not as good as the ones compared with the bakery shops, but they taste the most delicious because you made them with your heart. It is made with outer crispy crust that is filled with soft, moist egg custard. The preparation time is approximately 2 hours. You don’t really have to be a good cook in order to do this because most of the procedures are simple and easy to follow. I have improved the recipe from time to time and added up some important steps on it.

Ingredients:

A)   Crust ( 8 tarts)

·        1 ½ unsalted butter stick(1 cup)

·        2 cups flour

·        1 egg

·        150ml powdered sugar

·        ½ tsp salt

B)   Egg Custard (10-12 tarts)

·        5 small eggs/ 4 medium eggs/ 3 large eggs

·        290ml milk

·        75ml water

·        190ml sugar or less (1.5cups)

·        1 pinch salt

Equipments needed:

·        Electric mixer(optional)

·        2 large bowls

·        Measuring cup

·        Whisk

·        Tart tins or disposable muffin tins

·        toothpicks

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Step 1: Melt the butter

Set the butter into microwave and heat it up for a minute or two until the butter dissolve completely.

Note: You can either melt or use electric mixer to beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy.

Step 2: Add flour, powdered sugar, egg and salt together into the butter

After adding those ingredients, use your hand to knead the dough. You can stop kneading if it turns soft, pliable dough.

Note : Electric mixer might not work well in kneading dough because it will spill flour all over the place and make a mess to your kitchen.

Step 3: Form small balls of dough and place them on tart tins (or disposable muffin tins)

Start forming the base using your fingers to push the dough into the mould. You can trim away excess dough on the mould.

Tip : This method is considered to be the toughest among others. A delicious egg tart depends on how thick your crust is. If the crust is too thick, you tend to consume more crust and less custard which leaves you unsatisfactory feeling. If it is too thin, the egg tart will fall apart easily.

Step 4: Mix all the ingredients for making egg custard

You have to beat the ingredients gently for a minute or two with a whisk. The egg yolk should blend together with other ingredients. In the end, the mixture will become light yellow in color.

Note: It is all right if you happened to find some visible yellow patches or the egg white that does not dissolve completely in the mixture. They do not affect the taste of the custard.

Step 5: Pour the egg custard mixture into a measuring cup

After that, start by filling the crust with egg custard. Please do not pour until it is completely full because it will spill out easily. If it is full, the filling will expand because of the heat in the oven and spill all over the place. This will create a mess in your oven.

Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350 �F and bake them for 40 to 50 minutes.

You have to monitor the conditions of the egg tarts from time to time. This is because the crust will get burned easily. Remove them from the oven when they turned golden brown. 

Warning: Please handle with care while you are working with oven. If you happened to burn yourself, seek medical help immediately.

Step 7: Insert a toothpick into the custard

This is to ensure that the custard is ready to be eaten! It will stand on its own if it is cooked. If it is not, bake them again for a few minutes.

Step 8: Remove the egg tarts from disposable muffin tins (or tart tins)

Before this, leave the egg tarts to cool down for a minute or two. Do not take them off right away because the crusts are still soft and will break easily.

Warning: Be very careful while removing the egg tarts from the hot tins because you might scale yourself if you do not handle them cautiously.

Step 9: Serve the egg tarts!

Finally, the egg tarts are ready to be served! It is advisable to serve the egg tarts while they are piping hot from the oven. You will able to taste the crunchy crust with the soft moist egg custard fresh from the oven. The egg tarts can be kept in refrigerator up to 3 days. This is a simplified version of an egg tart recipe. You can search more recipes and compare with others if you wish to produce tastier egg tarts. Enjoy!

抑鬱患者‧早晨情緒差

抑鬱患者‧早晨情緒差

• 保健養生
 
• 健康人生
 

 2015-04-04 15:07

人們對於抑鬱症患者的一般認識為情緒持續低落（如延續兩週），無緣無故心情不好，精力減退，渾身無力，覺得不想幹活，覺得活著沒有意思，有自殺觀念等，然而早起也是識別抑鬱症的另一個表現。

抑鬱症患者常會胡思亂想，尤其在夜深人靜時，更容易讓他們的思緒盤旋在一些想法上，導致他們徹夜難眠，甚至半夜驚醒。由於睡眠質量很差，當陽光穿透他們的房間時卻提醒他們必須重新面對新的挑戰，這讓他們的心理上充滿壓迫感，因此會引發患者容易表現疲勞不堪、不想起床，有的甚至於不想上學或上班。即使勉強起床，心身狀態極差，疲勞、消沉、鬱悶、無奈。

抑鬱症患者會產生“晨重夜輕”的變化，對一般人而言，早晨是讓人神清氣爽、充滿希望的時刻，可對於抑鬱症患者來說，這無疑是地獄般的難耐時光。因為抑鬱症患者本身意志消沉，對生活失去信心，即便是充滿希望的早晨，他們也只會覺得這痛苦的一天就要開始了。

午飯後精神轉好

經過一夜的折磨，他們整個上午處於一個難熬的時段，在工作上得過且過，做事不在狀態。學生在課堂上註意力難以集中，聽課沒有效率。這些患者其實也很想打起精神去學習或工作，但往往是心有餘而力不足。

中午是抑鬱患者的“休息”時間。中午飯以後精神狀態會開始有點轉折，心理壓力會逐漸減輕。這種轉變是緩慢的，不知不覺的，談不上有甚麼外來的因素，但心理的難受程度會減輕。到了下午4至5點鐘，會開始感到有點輕鬆，有點緩過氣來的感覺。離開課堂或辦公室後，他們的壓力感也漸漸的減輕，對如何運用私人休閒時間產生興趣，可以和朋友、家人用餐或談笑風生。

晚餐時間後，患者會感到這是一天中最爽的時光，似乎陰霾已驅散，好像有了恢復正常狀態的感覺。與他人的談吐也顯得輕鬆自在，不再是滿臉晦氣，愁眉苦臉了。家人也會覺得患者沒事了，還會錯誤地認為晚上人的狀態那麼正常，哪能談得上是患了抑鬱症。

在人前展示陽光

然而好景其實不長，沒過上幾小時又得上床睡覺。此時患者便會開始焦慮，擔心自己是否能入睡，擔心明天是否會早醒，擔心隔天白天自己的狀態會怎樣等。這些擔心會引起情緒的低落，會影響入睡前心情，會聯想到許多有關近階段心理狀態的變化和處境。這些實際上已經開始了次日抑鬱的前兆。抑鬱就這樣開始邁進情緒行為起伏的又一天。

“陽光型抑鬱症”則屬於將鬱悶、委屈、憤怒等情緒掩藏起來，表面上給人陽光、快樂、充滿激情的感覺，而長期無法宣泄而成的憂鬱症，症狀有“幻想逃離現有環境”，“領導面前積極背後消極”等等。患者往往會把自己真正的情緒隱藏起來，只向人們展示自己陽光的一面，長期得不到宣泄的負面情緒積累計下來，形成巨大壓力。

從表面上看，這類人是非常快樂和充滿激情的，所到之處有如陽光，讓周圍的人燦爛快樂。但當他們一個人的時候，卻有著突然收斂的笑容和心中剎那的隱痛，猶如“雙面人”。而且，陽光型抑鬱症通常具有隱蔽性，讓身邊的人無法察覺，容易造成無法挽回的後果，這也是這類抑鬱症的最“危險”之處。

美國心理治療專家，賓夕法尼亞大學的David D.Burns博士設計出的一套抑鬱症自我診斷表“伯恩斯憂鬱症清單（BDC）”。這個自我診斷表可幫助你快速診斷出你是否患有抑鬱症。

備註：

抑鬱症目前診斷還是以臨床診斷為主，因此，確診為抑鬱症需要兩位精神科副主任醫生以上職稱者均一致診斷為抑鬱症才能確診。《抑鬱症自測表》只能作為一個參考標準，不能僅僅憑藉自測表得分就給自己貼標籤。

診斷最終還是應該由精神科醫生做出。

光明日報／良醫‧2015.04.04