Filipino Classic Egg Pie

As promised last weekend, here's the other dessert that I made for Ryan's birthday. We Filipinos call it Egg Pie. It is available in almost all bakeries in the Philippines and is enjoyed by Filipinos either as dessert or snack. It looks like a giant Egg Custard Tart usually found in Chinese restaurants, and is basically the same as the Classic Egg Custard Pie. The difference is just in the type of milk and flavoring used as well as in the appearance. We, Filipinos, use evaporated milk in our Egg Pie, and instead of nutmeg, we simply used kalamansi juice or rinds for flavoring (Kalamansi is a small round citrus like lime, common in the Philippines whose peel is sweet and whose fruit is sour). And unlike the Egg Custard Tart and the Classic Egg Custard Pie, our Egg Pie is dark brown on top.

There is this bakery in Calapan City (where Ryan & I grew up) named Halina Bakery which sells the best tasting egg pie! It is owned by our elementary classmate's family...and it is where both Ryan & I had our first taste of this very delightful dessert! I grew up loving it...same with Ryan! Now that we are far away from home, learning to make it on my own is a must. Glad that a friend of mine was nice enough to share this recipe with me. Not only can we enjoy it anytime we want, Ryan and I can also share one of our childhood favorite with our daughters! Though it's not Halina Bakery's recipe, it's close enough and definitely tastes like it!

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes and softened
• ¼ cup cold water

Filling:

• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 4 large eggs and another 1 large egg with white and yolk separated
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp fresh kalamansi or lemon juice
• 1 can condensed milk (14oz)