“I really love tarts,” says Rosemary Andrews. “I think any time is tart o’clock. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, or sweet tarts for dessert. They’re classics that never go out of fashion. You can always have tarts.”
Andrews should know. Before a recent stint as head pastry chef at now-closed Attica Summer Camp, Andrews worked in some of Australia's best restaurants and bakeries, including Rockpool Dining Group, Dinner By Heston Blumenthal, Laurent Boulangerie and Tivoli Road Bakery.
She sees the tart as a humble blank canvas for a range of flavours and occasions, whether they are sweet or savoury, warm or cold. “I think I would eat them warm if you like the gooey, warm, cheesy fondue style,” says Andrews of a cheese tart. “Otherwise they’re nice [when] set, like a cheesy custard.”
There’s a bit of intimidation around making your own pastry, so Andrews is happy for people to source something pre-made. Her recipe for this creamy double brie tart calls for flaky pastry made with spelt flour, so grab something along those lines if you can. Just make sure you look for quality.
“I would go to my local bakery,” says Andrews. “Otherwise there’s a really good brand called Carême Pastry. That’s a really good quality pastry you can buy.”
Whether you’re making the pastry from scratch or buying something pre-made, the cheese custard filling is the main draw. You’ll want a quartet of cheeses: mascarpone, cream cheese, quark and – the hero – double cream brie.
“The brie works really well in this recipe because it’s really creamy and has a nice, soft texture,” says Andrews. “It doesn’t change the texture of the custard too much, but gives it a really strong flavour.” Quark is a great addition too, being super smooth and creamy, but feel free to sub in sour cream or fromage frais if you can’t find it.
To make the custard, you’ll want to combine the ingredients over a bain marie – a glass or metal bowl sitting over a pot of water – set on medium heat, with the bowl and the water not coming into contact.
“Basically you put in all the ingredients except the cornflour and the egg white, then melt it down until it’s nice and smooth,” says Andrews. “I use a probe and cook it out to 65 degrees or until it’s kind of thick, like a custard.”
Before filling the tart, the pastry needs to be blind baked, which means you essentially cook the pastry before adding the filling. “Blind baking is when a tart is lined [with] foil or baking paper [on the] inside,” says Andrews. Keep the paper in place by weighing it down with rice or beans. “You bake it with that process then pull out [the weight],” says Andrews. “Then you bake it a little bit longer to get it nice and golden inside.”
Once your tarts are cooled, pipe in the filling and bake for 4-6 minutes. This final step can be done in advance, or just before serving. “I think you could make them a few hours ahead, but if you wanted to serve them warm I’d definitely make them within half an hour of serving them.”
Rosemary Andrews’s double cream brie tarts
Serves 12
Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
50g Castello double cream brie
30g quark cheese
160g cream cheese
25g mascarpone
30g unsalted butter
85ml full cream milk
20g icing sugar
7g cornflour
1 egg white
Flaky pastry
Uncooked rice (for weight)
Method:
For the filling, combine the four cheeses, butter, milk and sugar in a bowl over a bain-marie. Melt ingredients until smooth.
Once smooth, whisk in the cornflour and egg white (save yolk for egg). Continue to cook over the bain-marie on medium heat for 8–10 minutes, until it reaches 65°C or is thickened consistently, like custard. Strain the mixture and cool in fridge until required.
For the pastry, preheat oven to 180°C. Shape pastry into mini tart pans and cover with baking paper. Add rice to weight the paper and maintain the hollow for the filling.
Blind bake pastry for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove baking paper and rice, then continue to bake until the centre of the pastry is golden brown. Cool the tart shells for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 210°C for the custard bake.
Remove custard from fridge and fill tart shells to the brim (about 25g) by piping in the mixture. Make an egg wash by mixing reserved yolks with a pinch of sugar and a teaspoon of milk. Brush the tart shells with egg wash.
Bake cheese tarts for 4–6 minutes, depending how gooey or baked you would like your tarts. Take out the tray and set aside to cool on cooling racks.
Serve warm, or cool in the refrigerator for later. To garnish, grate roasted hazelnut over the top.
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