The BEST Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts (VIDEO)

5 from 10 votes

The BEST Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts (VIDEO)

Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts are the ultimate rich and creamy bite-sized Japanese desserts with crunchy shortcrust tart base and distinct sweet and savory cheesy filling. The Japanese Cheese tarts recipe is made using my popular Pâte Sablée aka Sweet shortcrust pastry tart that is filled with a combination of creamy, sweet, and savory dairy and cheese products such as heavy cream, Philadephia cream cheese, and parmesan cheese.

Prep Time30

Cook Time30

Waiting Time1

Total Time2

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Japanese

Servings:

Calories: 323kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

For the mini tart shells

90 g Icing sugar
230 g Pastry flour can be replaced with All purpose flour
30 g Almond flour
Pinch of salt
110 g Unsalted butter 82% fat content, use it very cold, cut into chunks
50 g Egg approx. 1 egg

For the cheese filling

230 g Cream cheese use full-fat, eg. Philadephia
50 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
45 g Unsalted butter 82% fat
50 g Whole milk
50 g Heavy cream
45 g Icing sugar
2 Egg yolk
15 g Corn starch

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

For the tart shells

Measure and cut butter into chunks and place it into the freezer for a few minutes
Sift together dry ingredients; flour, icing sugar, almond, salt
Add very cold butter chunks into the dry ingredients, and rub the mixture between your hands until it becomes a sand-like consistency
Add egg into the mixture and mix with your hands just until the dough comes together
Knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute or two, just until the dough becomes smooth. Do not over-knead the dough and do not use mixer, neither a food processor
If the dough is too warm and sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes first. Otherwise, continue with rolling the dough out into 2mm thickness between two Silicone baking mat.
Place the dough into the freezer for 15 min in between the two Silicone baking mat. Do not remove the mat at this point
Prepare your muffin pan or 12 mini tart molds
Take the dough sheet out from the freezer, remove the top of the silicone mat, and cut out circles, using a cookie cutter
With your fingers, press the dough circles into the tin one by one. Make sure that you work with a dough that is cold enough to be able to handle.
Once you are ready with all the tart shells, poke them with a fork, then freeze the dough for 1 hour before baking
Pre-heat oven to 180C / 356F (no fan) while the dough is in the freezer.
Bake for 15 min in the muffin pan. After 15 minutes the pastry cases will somewhat contract within the pan so you will be able to easily remove them
Once the tart cases are removed from the muffin pan to a baking sheet, bake for further 10-15 minutes at 160C / 320F (no fan). I suggest baking them in this second step upside down so the bottom of the tart case is up and can fully be baked until golden brown.
They are ready when they achieve an even golden color, in about 25-30 minutes overall

Filling

In a large enough bowl with the help of a hand whisk, whip together sugar and egg yolk until slightly fluffy for about 1-2 minutes the whisk in corn starch until thoroughly incorporated and have a smooth paste
Heat milk, cream, butter, Philadephia cheese, and grated parmesan in a saucepan on low-medium heat, then remove it as soon as the ingredients melt together. By this time, the mixture probably will be simmering
Pour the warm cheese mixture over the egg yolk mixture slowly while whisking vigorously with a hand whisk.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens
Place the filling into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Chill it for an hour before using it

Assemble

Pre-heat oven to 220C / 428F (no fan)
Fill each tart shells with the cheese filling using a piping bag
Whisk one egg with a splash of water and apply a light egg wash on top of the filling
Pop the tarts bake to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes or until the top slightly caramelizes
Serve the baked cheese tarts warm, room temperature or chilled

Video

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
Use high-quality 82% fat content European style very cold unsalted butter
In case of nut allergy, almond can be replaced with an equal amount of flour
Do not skip the salt in the tart shell
In the filling use full-fat ingredients eg. cream, milk, cream cheese etc.
If you prefer really sweet desserts, feel free to increase the quantity of the sugar, however, the Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts should not be sweet, like a cheesecake, more like sweet & savory

TECHNIQUE NOTES:

Make sure you read my Expert tips section above to maximize your success. A short recipe alone is not able to cover all the necessary details, and science behind baking.
While assembling and kneading the dough, work as quickly as possible without 1. overworking the dough 2. making the dough too warm. Kneading literally should not take more than a minute or two
The temperature while working with this dough is super important. Too warm? The pastry dough will tear. Too cold? The pastry dough will break. Aim for the in-between, a cold enough dough that is comfortable to work with. Use your fridge or freezer to chill the dough if it gets too warm
Do not worry if the inside of tart shells don't look perfect after baking, we will fill them anyway, no one will see it:)
I strongly advise using a Digital oven thermometer to be able to measure your exact oven temperature

Nutrition