Cream Cheese Tart Shells
Fill these with sweet or savory ingredients. I use a tool to press them to the pan which saves TONS of time.
Fill these with sweet or savory ingredients. I use a tool to press them to the pan which saves TONS of time.
- Carbohydrate 4.012693125 g
- Cholesterol 14.0658333333333 mg
- Fat 5.09972791666667 g
- Fiber 0.140625002483527 g
- Protein 0.765446458333333 g
- Saturated Fat 3.12095941666667 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Shell (13g)
- Sodium 104.761270833333 mg
- Sugar 3.87206812251647 g
- Trans Fat 0.4585135625 g
- Calories 64 calories
Step-by-step
- Blend cream cheese and butter or margarine.
- Stir in flour just until blended.
- Chill about 1 hour. This can be made ahead and chilled for up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Shape dough into 24 one-inch balls and press into ungreased 1 1/2 inch muffin cups (mini-muffin size) to make a shallow shell. Fill with your favorite filling and bake for 20 minutes, or until light brown
A ratio of roughly two parts flour to one part fat by volume yields a dough that relies on dairy proteins rather than water steam to create structure, producing a tender crumb that behaves differently than traditional pastry crusts. Because this dough contains high moisture from both butter and cream cheese, failing to manage temperature during mixing and shaping will lead to butter melting prematurely and grease-soaked shells. Controlling thermal energy is the singular mechanism that prevents these mini crusts from sliding down the sides of the pan during the baking process.
- Chill the dough for precisely sixty minutes to firm the fats, which makes portioning into twenty-four uniform one-inch balls manageable without sticking to your hands.
- Press the portions into ungreased mini-muffin cups using a tart tamper dusted lightly with flour to maintain consistent wall thickness without tearing the delicate matrix.
- Set the oven temperature strictly to 325 degrees Fahrenheit so the pastry bakes through to a light brown without burning the dairy solids before the flour fully cooks.
Prepared dough balls can sit safely in the refrigerator for up to twenty-four hours before baking if wrapped securely. Utilizing a cold-to-hot transition from the refrigerator straight into a preheated oven creates the thermal shock necessary to set the shape before the butter liquefies entirely.
