If you have been following my Instagram stories, you would know that I am into baking lately. I have been making and baking cheese tarts, french baguette, oat rosemary wholemeal buns just to name a few. You might ask what spurred the sudden interest, well, on the eve of Christmas eve, my SO was telling me how good the cheese tarts from BAKE were even though he isn't a big fan of cheese. While I haven't tried the cheese tarts from BAKE and the closest one I had was from Pablo when we were at Osaka, I knew I had to try my hand at making them. Plus, we had a Christmas party that evening and that gave us another reason to make them!
First, we started by making the tart shell. If you are time-pressed, you can omit this step and get ready made ones from Phoon Huat but trust me, a good cheese tart is dependable on the tart shell aka crust and this tart shell is worth the extra effort and time.
How to make tart shells
Ingredients:
(makes 10 mini tart shells)
100g all-purpose flour
20g caster sugar
50g butter
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp fresh milk
Directions:
1. Sift all-purpose flour and caster sugar into a mixing bowl.
2. Using your finger, break butter and rub it into the flour and sugar mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add egg yolk to the mixture and mix it well with a scrapper.
4. Add fresh milk
5. Knead the dough into a large ball and chill in the fridge for an hour
6. After an hour, remove dough from fridge.
7. Divide the dough into 10 equal parts, shaped into a ball.
8. Roll each part of the dough to about 3-4mm thickness.
9. Using your fingers, press and mold the dough into the aluminum foil tart pans.
10. Using a fork, poke holes at the base of the tart shells.
11. Bake the tarts at 180°C for 10 mins.
12. Let tart shells cool at room temperature
How to cook cheese custard
Ingredients:
150g cream cheese
50g mascarpone cheese
20g parmesan cheese
30g butter
100g fresh milk
30g caster sugar
8g corn starch
1 egg
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 egg yolk (for glazing)
Directions:
1. Add cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, parmesan cheese, fresh milk and salted butter into a small stainless steel bowl.
2. Place the bowl in a large pan or wok with barely simmering water.
3. Stir mixture with a mixer till all ingredients are well-mixed.
4. Add sifted corn starch and caster sugar to mixture.
5. Continue to mix till the mixture is well-mixed.
6. Add egg and lemon or lime juice and continue to mix mixture.
7. Chill mixture in fridge for 20 minutes before using.
8. Fill tart shells with cheese custard using a piping bag
9. Brush custard with egg yolk.
10. Bake cheese tarts at 230°C for 7-10mins.
Tip: Cheese tarts are best eaten warm!
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