Once you master the rather finicky process of making the tart/mini quiche shells, you can make a wide array of little treats that will fit well into just about any party menu you can imagine, with either savory or sweet fillings. I’m giving my version of the crust recipe and then giving an all-purpose savory filling.
All-Purpose Crust Recipe for Mini Quiches and Tarts
I've been using some version of this crust for about 15 years, and over the years I've tweaked and fiddled and adjusted the basic recipe until I have something that works very well. Be sure you read the instructions and notes, as I've learned many lessons over the years!
Ingredients
- 4 oz. cream cheese or 1/2 of an 8-oz. pkg., softened
- 4 oz. butter or 1 stick, 8 tablespoons
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
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Mix ingredients together thoroughly. If you're making a multiple-recipe batch (which I highly recommend, as I don't think this recipe is worth making for just one batch) I'd advise using a stand mixer with the paddle.
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Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm.
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Taking out about half of the dough from the fridge at a time, divide the dough into small balls, 1/2 ounce apiece (if you have a kitchen scale and want to use it) and press the dough into the wells of a 24-cup min-tart pan. It's not a bad idea, especially if you're going to be using a fruit-based filling, to use foil mini-muffin liners. Use of these liners will remove any possibility of sticking to the pan. Try to get a little rim of dough to stick up above the edge.
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I’m afraid there’s no alternative to just using your thumbs—even Martha Stewart does it that way. (I do have a pastry tamper, and for the last few batches I used that first and then went back around with my thumbs, but I’m not sure I saved any time that way. I may try to refine my technique a bit the next time.)
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If you're making the shells ahead of time, you can put the pans with the shells in the freezer, let them get hard, and then pop the shells out and put them on a baking sheet.
Savory Mini-Quiches
Ingredients
Meat & cheese:
- 1/2-2/3 cup chopped ham or bacon
- 1/2-2/3 cup grated cheese of your choice
Savory Custard:
- 1/4 cup milk or half & half
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
- a few gratings nutmeg
Instructions
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Make the shells are instructed in the pastry recipe. Prick bottoms of shells with a fork. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. The shells will puff up a bit, but that’s okay. You could drive yourself crazy with little squares of parchment in each one with a few pie weights . . . but I refuse to do that and the shells work fine.
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Use a food processor to mix custard ingredients. (If you’re just making one batch you can use a mini-processor or the small bowl of your regular processor, or just whisk it in a bowl.) Put a small amount of cheese and ham in each muffin crust.
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Put a tiny bit—probably a teaspoon—of the milk/egg mixture on top of each, trying not to let any of the mixture drip down the sides. You may need more custard; if so, just mix up another batch. Better to have too little than too much and have to figure out what to do with the extra. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is melted and custard is set. Use an instant-read thermometer to test a quiche in the middle of the pan and the center of the quiche, making sure that temp is at least 160 degrees.
Recipe Notes
This recipe can be multiplied exponentially. I made 12x of this recipe for a wedding reception, filling up my six 24-cup mini-muffin pans twice, and I could have/should have made at least 96 more, filling up four of the pans for a third time. After pre-baking the shells for the first batch, I let them cool, popped them out using the point of a knife and lined them up on a large paper-towel-lined baking sheet, covered them with plastic wrap and froze them. When I was ready to bake them I used the muffin pans to bake all of them, baking six pans at a time, taking them out after they cooled briefly, then putting a new batch of shells back in the pans and doing them. In theory you could just bake the removed ones on the baking sheets, but I felt that the quiches would cook more evenly in the muffin pans. These were a huge hit; it’s just about impossible to make too many.
These can be served at room temp, although they shouldn’t be left out of the oven too long. They do have eggs, meat and cheese in them, after all. I did put layers of them in chafing dish pans, just so they were at least somewhat warm.