MINI EASTER TARTS WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING

Mini Easter tarts filled with cream cheese on sweet buttery short pastry are perfect for upcoming Easter table. Individual portions will make it easy to serve, and little Hershey’s eggies will add up little chocolatey sweetness and crunch.

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Why you’ll adore making these mini Easter tarts

I am always looking forward to the Easter celebration! It is a sign of Spring and new beginnings. All the baking is full of vibrant colours and I can’t wait to show you how beautifully these Easter tarts comes together.

These Easter tarts are made from sweet short pastry dough and filled with creamy coloured cheesecake filling. Extra fluffy filling with addition of whipped cream. All this topped with your favourite Easter chocolates. I used Hershey’s chocolate eggies, but feel free to use your favourite chocolate on top.

It is fairly easy to put this recipe togeher. To save some time, you can prepare the short pastry dough in advance and fill it with the cream cheese filling once your guests have arrived.

Ingredients

• Pastry flour – Sift the flour before using it for the sweet short pastry dough.

• Unsalted butter – I always recommend unsalted butter, to control the saltiness of the dough. For a dairy-free option, use vegan butter.

• Egg yolk – Is a biding agent, it will hold the dough together.

• Sugar – To sweeten the dough.

• Whole milk – Is used for the moisture of the dough. For a dairy-free version, use almond or oat milk.

• Cream cheese – Is used for the filling. If you wish to make a dairy-free version, use vegan cream cheese.

• Lemon juice – Is used for the flavour.

• Heavy cream – Will fluff up the cream cheese, so it’s not that dense and heavy.

• Vanilla extract- Will add the flavour to the cream cheese filling.

• Gel food colouring – Use any kind of pastel gel food colouring. Best are Wilton brand or Anne Clark.

What is short pastry?

You will need a lot of butter, flour, egg yolk, milk, sugar and salt. This is not a classic pâte brisée, because it is made with milk and eggs instead of water, so the resulting dough is very crispy with a melting texture.

Lightness of hands and speed are very important, and the whole process should not take longer than 4–5 minutes, or the pastry will be tough. I recommend using a food processor instead of kneading it in your hands, it is a faster and more convenient way to prepare short pastry.

How to store short pastry dough

This amount of pastry is enough to make four 9 1/2″ tarts, six 8″ tarts, or sixteen 4″ tarts. The pastry can be used once it has rested, or it can be stored for up to two days in the refrigeration. It can also be frozen tightly wrapped in portions: thaw slowly in the refrigerator before using.

Do not knead the dough again! If you do, the pastry will lose its melting texture. For this recipe you will need approximately half of the short pastry dough, depending on how thick you will roll out the dough, so it’s better to make the whole recipe below and then the leftover you can freeze up to 3 months in an airtight container.

How to make Mini Easter Tarts

Step 1- Make Pâte brisée (short pastry)

Hand instructions

1. In a large kitchen bowl, add softened butter, salt and egg yolk. Beat the butter with a wooden spatula until all ingredients are combined.
2. In a medium cup, add sugar and milk, stir well. Pour this onto the softened butter in a thin stream, stirring constantly, the butter.
3. In another bowl, sift the flour and gradually ad the flour into the butter mixture. Continue beating the mixture with a wooden spoon until the ingredients comes together.
4. Place mixture onto a floured surface and, using the palm of your hand, kneed the dough for few minutes to form a soft dough. Shape the dough into a ball, flatten slightly, and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Food processor instructions

Using a food processor is an ideal way to make pâte brisée, because it is very fast. It is important to stop the machine at the right moment. When the dough starts to gathers into a ball, you stop.

1. Fit the metal blade into the food processor. Put the flour, butter, salt, egg yolk, sugar into the processor bowl and process until you have wet sand.
2. Add milk and mix until ball of dough has formed. Remove from food processor and on a floured surface, gently form into a dough and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Step 2 – Bake the tart crusts

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C & butter small 4″ tart pans.
2. In between two parchment papers, roll out evenly the dough to ⅛ – ¼ inch (3-5 mm) of thickness. With a cookie cutter 5″ large, cut out a circle and place it inside the tart pan. Press lightly on the dough with your fingers, so it fills the inside with the tart pan.
3. Take a pre-measured parchment paper to fit each tart pan and place it on top of the dough. Add baking beans or rice on top of the parchment paper to weigh the dough down.
4. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the tarts from the oven, remove the baking beans with parchment paper and return the tarts back to the oven and bake for additional 6 minutes. After baking, let cool the tarts on a wire rack.

Step 2 – Cream cheese filling

1. In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese, lemon juice, heavy cream, and the sugar, until smooth and creamy. Set aside. (If you are using only one color, add the food coloring into the mixture as step 1).
2. If you will use more colors, then separate the cream cheese filling in two bowls and add gel food colouring of your choice into each bowl. Combine the colours well with the cream cheese.
3. Fill the cooled tart crusts with cream cheese filling by using a piping bag. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
4. Decorate with Easter chocolate eggs. You can also use edible flowers for more appealing tarts.

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