Egg Rolls Part 3: Recipe for Handmade Sweet Flaky Egg Rolls (手工蛋卷)

As you may have gathered from my previous posts, I have a slight obsession with eggs.  I am also into snacks from Hong Kong. Given that I have already tried making egg tarts (蛋撻 daan taat), and you need a special waffle iron which I do not have to make eggettes (雞蛋仔 gai daan zai), it was only natural that I give egg rolls (蛋卷 daan gyun) a go. [Added 31May 2014: I have now purchased an eggette mould and you can read about it in my latest post.]

My first attempt at making egg rolls at home.

Finding a recipe to use was a real mission, as the ones that appeared in search results were generally for American Chinese egg rolls, or what I would call spring rolls (春捲 ceon gyun).  When I eventually did come across some, it turned out they were very similar to ice cream cone recipes, even though in my mind, the two are nothing alike.  Aside from the obvious shape difference, egg rolls are always pale yellow rather than golden brown, and their texture is more delicate than that of ice cream cones, which I consider harder and chewier.  Good egg rolls fall apart at the slightest little jolt.

My next problem was working out how to make them a uniform thinness, without a waffle iron, sandwich press, egg roll machine, or anything of the sort.  I found a blog where the egg rolls were simply cooked in a frying pan, after being spread with the back of a spoon, but the final product had an uneven colouring which I did not want to repeat.  In the end, I took inspiration from Monica's blog [added 9 Feb 2014: broken link to http://www.wretch.cc/blog/monicaca0531/15451180 removed], and made do with a frying pan and a saucepan to flatten my dough between.

Dough in frying pan, after I flattened it with the base of a saucepan.

While professionals use metal rods to wrap the egg rolls around, you can apparently simply use a chopstick. I chose to use the handle of a wooden spoon, which made for a thicker and rounder shape.  I also hoped the wood would draw the heat less quickly from my creations, thereby giving me more time to mould them before they set.

Wrapping an egg roll around the handle of a wooden spoon.  This one was a bit undercooked, as you can see the edges are still moist.

I had plenty of failures, of course.  Some rolls were too thick, did not cook through, and turned out more like crepes.  Some were too thin, and became brittle before I could bend them.  Some were simply cooked too long, and became a deep golden brown.  In fact, the majority of my egg rolls were failures, though they still tasted good.  Part of the problem, I think, was that I had to lift the circles out of the frying pan and put them onto my chopping board for rolling.  What you want is to roll them on the hot surface, so that they don't solidify so quickly.

Pile of rejects.  The sheets at the top set before I could roll them.  The rolls at the bottom were undercooked and did not set.  Hiding underneath all of these are the golden brown, "burnt" ones.

Once made, you have to keep your egg rolls in an airtight container.  Even the very thin, very crispy ones I created became soft after only a couple of hours when left out.  The thicker ones were easier to roll, because they did not cool down so quickly, but it was also difficult to draw all the moisture out of them to turn them crunchy.  Next time I might cheat, and put those ones in the oven afterwards to dry out.  I might even add a little baking powder, to see if that would help with the texture.

The thicker egg rolls were easier to roll.

Although far from perfect, I was pretty happy with how my egg rolls turned out, considering it was my first attempt and I only had makeshift equipment.  Here is how you can have a go too.

Handmade Egg Rolls (手工蛋卷)
Adapted from NTD Culinary, December 2009

Makes more or less 40 egg rolls, depending on size.

100g butter
100g icing sugar
4 eggs
1/8 tsp vanilla essence
100g plain flour

Extra Equipment

• Egg roll press, or substitute (in my case, two pans from the kitchen)
• Shaping rod, or substitute (such as a chopstick or handle of a wooden spoon)
• Cooling rack, or substitute (such as chopsticks arranged over a plate)
• Cotton gloves (optional, so you don't burn your fingers when rolling)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar until nearly white (use your electric egg beater if you have one).
2. Beat in whole eggs, one at a time.
3. Add vanilla essence and mix.
4. Sift flour and stir through gently.
5. Let mixture rest for 15 minutes.
6. Heat egg roll maker or pans on low, and wipe/spray cooking surfaces with a thin layer of oil (you only need this so the first batch does not stick).
7. Place a tablespoon of mixture into the centre and press (if using a larger rectangular machine, you can put two dollops about 10cm apart, as per the videos in my previous post).  If using a cast-iron mould over a gas burner, cook for 30 seconds on each side.  It'll take some experimentation to work out the optimal thickness and cooking time.
8. Roll the disc up around your shaping rod, wait a couple of seconds for your egg roll to cool down and set, then transfer it to your cooling rack.
9. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
10. Once cool, store egg rolls in an airtight container.

Posts in this series

• Egg Rolls Part 1: Variations Around the World
• Egg Rolls Part 2: Sweet Flaky Egg Rolls (蛋卷, or Biscuit/Cookie/Wafer Rolls) 
• Egg Rolls Part 3: Recipe for Handmade Sweet Flaky Egg Rolls (手工蛋卷)

This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event aimed at inspiring us to try new things.