Flaky and buttery pastry filled with a smooth and creamy cheese filling. These Hokkaido baked cheese tarts are the perfect balance between sweet and salty.
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Background
I'm just going to start this blog post off with some cheese appreciation. I'm sure many of you feel the same way as me, I love cheese. Whether it be on a cheese platter with crackers, melted on top of my pizza, or in the form of a dessert I don't know how it can possibly go wrong.
Now that we've got that out of the way let's move onto the recipe! I absolutely love cheese tarts. At first I thought they were just mini cheesecakes with an out of scale cheese to crust ratio. That was before I had an amazing cheese tart. Flashback to my trip to Japan in January 2017... the best Hokkaido baked cheese tarts...
What are hokkaido cheese tarts?
Originating in Hokkaido Japan these tarts were originally created to showcase the cheesy taste of Hokkaido dairy. The tart shell is buttery and the cheese filling is firm on the outside and gooey in the centre. Enjoyed warm, cold or frozen these tarts are for everyone!
Tips for making the crust
To ensure your pastry turns out flakey, buttery and absolutely delicious keep these tips in mind!
Everything should be cold
The butter, milk and eggs in these tarts should all be chilled before hand, and kept as cold as possible whilst making the pastry. This ensures that the butter doesn't melt into the dough. The little pockets of butter create flakiness when baked.
Chilling the dough before baking
This is an important step as it prevents the shells from shrinking too much. If the shells shrink too much there won't be enough volume for the cheese filling, throwing the balance between tart shell and filling off.
Tips for making the filling
To ensure that the cheese tarts have a smooth, cheesy, and creamy texture it is important to follow these tips.
- Melt the cheeses well: The cheeses are what causes lumps in the filling. Making sure that all the cheeses have melted into each other ensures a smooth filling.
- Sieving: If you find that the cheese filling is still lumpy you can pass it through a fine meshed sieve
- Thickening: It is important to keep cooking the cheese mixture over the double boiler. This creates a creamier texture. Keep mixing until slightly thickened.
- Chilling: Make sure to chill the filling before piping it into the shells. Chilling the cheese filling makes it a lot easier to pipe into the tart shells, allowing you to fill the tarts to their full capacity.
Adjusting the bake time to your preferred filling consistency
Does the runny centre of a cheese tart make it unsafe to eat?
I find that the best cheese tarts have edges that are slightly firmer, resembling a cheesecake. The centre is then half-baked with a slightly runny consistency. Although the centre of the cheesecake is half-baked it is perfectly safe to eat as it has been cooked during the custard making process and then heated in the oven.
I prefer a firmer cheese tart, how long should I bake it?
If you prefer the centre of your cheese tart to be firmer bake the tart for an additional 3 minutes, or until the tart doesn't jiggle anymore. Make sure you keep a close eye on your tarts as they are being baked at a high temperature. If you find that the tarts are starting to brown too quickly turn the oven off and leave the cheese tarts in there until the filling reaches your desired texture.
How to enjoy
The unique part about Hokkaido cheese tarts is the ways you can enjoy them. Either warm, chilled or frozen.
Warm
How to reheat my cheese tart?
If you enjoy your cheese tarts warm they are best straight out of the oven, as this doesn't compromise their texture. If you want to reheat your tarts, pop them in a toaster oven for 3-4 minutes. Just be aware that this will cook the cheese filling a little more.
Chilled
The easiest way to enjoy your cheese tarts and personally my favorite way to eat them! Chilling the cheese tarts intensifies the cheese flavor whilst adding an extra creamy texture to the filling. At this temperature, they resemble a super creamy cheesecake with a slightly cheesier flavor and crumblier crust.
All you need to do is remove it from the fridge and enjoy!
Frozen
An interesting way to enjoy these that you don't usually see with other desserts. Cheese tarts can be eaten frozen because of the half-baked cheese texture. They don't freeze up rock solid and the texture it almost like ice-cream. Delicious!
Let's Get Cooking
If you liked this recipe make sure to leave me a comment and rating down below, I would love to know how you went. Also don't forget to tag me on Instagram @catherine.desserts so I can see and share your desserts.
Follow me on facebook, pinterest, youtube and tiktok for more of my baking creations and updates! Until next time... happy caking!
Print📖 Recipe
Hokkaido Cheese Tart Recipe
Flaky and buttery pastry filled with a smooth and creamy cheese filling. These Hokkaido baked cheese tarts are the perfect balance between sweet and salty.
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 9 Tarts 1x
- Category: Tart
- Method: Intermediate
- Cuisine: Japanese
Ingredients
Tart Crust
- 120 g All purpose flour (1 cup)
- 25 g Granulated sugar (2 tbsp)
- 70 g Unsalted butter (¼ cup 2 tsp)
- 1 Egg yolk
Cream Cheese Filling
- 150 g Cream cheese (5.3 oz)
- 50 g Smooth ricotta or mascarpone (3.5 oz)
- 40 g Parmesan cheese (0.9 oz)
- 30 g Butter (2 tbsp)
- 100 g Milk (⅓ cup 1 tbsp)
- 60 g Icing sugar (½ cup 2 tbsp)
- 7 g Corn starch/Cornflour (1 tbsp)
- 1 Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- Pinch Salt
Egg Wash
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2 tbsp Whole milk
Instructions
Tart Crust
- Grease and dust your tart molds (I used egg tart tins, but you can use a cupcake or muffin tin!)
- Place flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl and rub between your fingertips until the dough resembles sands
- Add the yolk and knead until a smooth dough
- If too wet add a little more flour, if too dry add a splash of milk
- Divide the dough into 9 portions and line your tart tins
- Dock the bases of the tart shells with a fork and place the lined tart shells in the freezer for at least 30 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Bake the tart shells for 20-30 minutes, until lightly golden brown
- Remove from the oven and press down any air bubbles with a spoon
Cream Cheese Filling
- Combine the cream cheese, ricotta/mascarpone, parmesan, milk and butter in a large heatproof bowl
- Melt the cheeses over a double boiler, mix until smooth
- Add the eggs, vanilla, cornstarch and sugar, and continue stirring the mixture for 10 minutes or until thickened
- Remove from heat and cover with cling wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour until chilled.
Assembly
- Preheat the grill to high
- Remove from fridge and fill a piping bag with the cheese mixture
- Pipe the cheese mixture into the blind-baked tart shells
- Make the egg wash by whisking together the egg yolks and milk
- Brush the tops of the cheese mixture with the egg wash
- Grill or broil for 6-7 minutes, or until they are golden brown (you can also use a blowtorch)
- Enjoy warm or chilled!
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kay
Hi! I was about to make this when i noticed that the measurements of grams to cups seem inaccurate or doubled? 1 cup of flour is 120 g but the recipe calls for 240g? should i follow the metric or the conversion to cup? thank you!
Catherine Zhang
Hi Kay, I'm so sorry about that, thanks for letting me know! Follow the grams, but I've updated the cups now as well. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Diah
Hi, what do you put on top of the filling before baking? Is that egg?
Catherine Zhang
Yes I give it a brush of egg, but it's not compulsory!
hc
what is the size of your mold?
Catherine Zhang
Mine were 7cm in diameter 🙂
Yudi
Hi Catherine,
Will this be enough recipe to bake a standard tart pan size of 9” diameter?
Thank you
Yudi
Catherine Zhang
Hi Yudi, I haven't tried baking it in a large tin before, but I would double the recipe for a large tart 🙂
Amelia
These are perfection. Thank you for the recipe.
Catherine Zhang
Yay!! 😁
Catherine Zhang
Thanks Amelia!
Michelle
I love this recipe! I had a quick question though!
Am I able to make a large batch ( for two separate parties) and freeze them to use?
I was wondering if I should fill my blind baked tarts then freeze, or if I should just keep the filling separate and fill on both days of the parties.
I would love to know! Thank you so much!
Catherine Zhang
Yes, you definitely can. You can fill the tart shells and freeze them like that. When you are ready to serve them take them out and bake!
christina
this was literally so delicious and amazing
so creamy and nothing like I've had before
100x better than a regular cheese cake.
100/10 would make again <333
Catherine Zhang
aww the sweetest comment thank you ❤️
Barbara Klein Gooding
Question: What type of parmesan are you using? meaning, did you get a block and grate it yourself? I apprecaite the help and cannot wait to try!
Catherine Zhang
Yep! I used a block of parmesan and grated it
Amanda Tan Jieyu
Can Have Two Japanese Hokkiado Baked Cheese Tart.