Bacon, Mushroom & Cheese Tarts

Bacon, Mushroom & Cheese Tarts recipe is from Leisure Cat. Originally a Pie recipe, but I changed it into Tarts. The dough for the tart shells was very oily and not easy to handle, impossible to roll out. Even Bondycat, who shared this recipe, said she had had difficulty rolling the dough, hence she used fingers to press the dough onto the pie tin. But the oily dough actuallly yields tasty flaky pastry, which is my favourite. When the tarts were freshly out of the oven, Gene, Ni and I couldn't wait and we had two tarts each. Delish! Many who tried this recipe said that the recipe is sinful, but who cares when comes to occasional indulgence of the palate.



Bacon, Mushroom & Cheese Tarts

Ingredients for tart shells:
200g cake flour
1/5 tsp baking powder
100g butter, room temperature
60g caster sugar
1 egg
a drop of vanilla essence


Method:

Sift the cake flour and baking powder together, set aside.

Cream the butter with caster sugar until white and creamy.

Add egg and continue to beat until smooth, add vanilla essence.

Fold in flour gradually until well blended.

Wrap the dough in a cling wrap and chill for about 1 to 2 hours.

Divide the dough into small balls and press the dough into the tart moulds. Ensure even thickness of the dough.

Put the prepared moulds in the fridge.


Ingredients for filling:
80g bacon, sliced
1 garlic, minced
8 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
60g diary whipping cream
60g milk
1 egg, beaten
a pinch of salt
a dash of pepper
50g Cheddar cheese, grated


Method:

Beat the egg, milk and diary whipping cream till well combined(creamy white in colour), add salt and pepper.

Put bacon, mushrooms and garlic on the prepared tart moulds. Pour the egg mixture into the moulds.

Sprinkle grated cheese on the mixture.

Bake in preheated oven at 190 degree Celsius for *45-50 mintues. (*my oven temperature is low compared to other oven, so I actually took the same time, as the original pie recipe, to bake the tarts)

Tazz's Note: To make into Pie, use a 18cm pie tin. The recipe for the pastry yields 14 tart shells. I made 12 tarts but I would suggest pouring the filling into 10 tart shells to make puffier tarts.

Tips that I learnt from cooking programme on tv: Button mushrooms turn black easily. After washing, add lemon juice or venegar in a bowl of water, soak button mushrooms briefly. Drain and put in the fridge. Button mushrooms will not turn black easily.