Delicious warm cheese tart with soft melted brie cheese with a crispy crust should be everyone’s favorite. It is easy to make and delicious, if you love cheese then you will love it more. You don’t want to overpower the tart with cheese that has a strong flavor. However, if you don’t have access to Brie cheese, cream cheese can be used instead. You can make these tarts a day in advance. If you do, make sure to take the tarts out from the oven 1-2 minute earlier. Once they are cooled, cover and store in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to serve, put them back in the oven to puff up the pastry and let the cheese bubble. The first thing you need to do is make the tart base with sweet pastry.

Combine the plain flour, sugar, and cold butter in a bowl and mix them until well combined and they for a sand texture. Make sure the butter is cold of your tart base won’t be well-formed. Add the egg and start forming the mixture into a dough and once formed, wrap and let it set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. For the cream cheese filling, the cream cheese needs to be soft at room temparature. Mix cream cheese with sugar first then add the egg yolks and continue mixing them. Next, add the cream and lemon juice and make sure there are no lumps in the mixture. Roll the sweet pastry out, cut it and then place it in the cheese tart plate and refrigerate them for about ten minutes so the pastry wonts string back when baking.

Bake the base at 180 degrees calcium until golden brown. Whip egg whites with sugar until firm peak then folds the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture. Pipe the mixture to the tart base and bake them at 190 degrees Celsius for about ten minutes.

Ingredients

  • 100g cake flour
  • 20g icing sugar
  • 50g salted butter, cut into cubes, cold
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/2 tsp fresh milk

For the cheese custard;

  • 150g cream cheese
  • 50g Mascarpone cheese
  • 20g Parmesan cheese
  • 30g salted butter
  • 100g fresh milk
  • 30g icing sugar
  • 8-12g corn starch, depending on consistency desired
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg yolk for brushing on top of the custard

Instructions;

  1. Start by making the tart pastry. Sift the cake flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Add cold salted butter cubes.
  2. Using fingertips, break the butter and rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs.
  3. Add egg yolk to the mixture, use a scraper to mix the egg yolk into the flour mixture.
  4. The mixture will come together and thereafter, use hands to form the mixture into a dough.
  5. Add fresh milk, the dough will become very soft and pliable.
  6. Knead the dough gently into a ball. Place on a piece of cling wrap.
  7. Wrap the dough and place in the fridge to rest for about 1 hour.
  8. While waiting, prepare the cheese custard. Add cream cheese, Mascarpone cheese, Parmesan cheese, fresh milk, and salted butter into a small pot.
  9. Place the pot into a large, shallow pan/pot with barely simmering water.
  10. This is the bain-marie method; the aim is to create a gentle and uniform heat for cooking the custard. Keep stirring the mixture till everything is melted.
  11. Once the mixture has melted, add sifted corn starch and icing sugar. Mix till well-blended, the mixture will thicken slowly.
  12. Add full egg, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Mix till well-blended, the mixture will further thicken into a custard.
  13. Taste the custard and if desired, add some sea salt to increase the intensity of the cheese taste.
  14. There may be some fine lumps and grainy bits in the custard. Sifting will yield a more velvety smooth custard, but this is optional. Let the custard cool down completely.

Back to the tart pastry.

  1. Remove the dough from the fridge. Dust a baking mat and rolling pin with flour, roll the dough thinly, about 3-4 mm thickness.
  2. Place the cut dough over a tart tin and gently press it downwards.
  3. Using fingertips, gently press and mold the dough into the tart tin. Use a fork to poke holes at the base of the tart cases.
  4. Bake the tarts at 180°C, with the oven on fan mode, for 10mins.
  5. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
  6. After the tart cases have cooled slightly, remove them from the tins and let them cool completely before use.
  7. Preheat oven to 230°C fan mode.
  8. Fill a piping bag with the cheese custard. Pipe the custard into the tart cases, in a slightly domed shape. Brush custard evenly with egg yolk.
  9. Bake the tarts at 230°C fan mode for 6 to 7 mins.
    Once baked, remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.