Cheese and Walnut Tartlets
A filling of hard cheese and nuts holds up in pastry better than any other: there is no free moisture in it, so the shell stays crisp even an hour later. Toasting the walnuts is not optional — raw ones taste damp and grassy and undo the whole idea.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Servings
- 8
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 270 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: 24 tartlets, 8 portions
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Toast the walnuts
Warm them in a dry pan for 4–5 minutes until fragrant. Set the halves aside for the top and chop the rest.
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Step 2: Beat the cheese base
Stir the cream cheese and grated hard cheese together until smooth — by spoon rather than blender, which turns cheese runny.
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Step 3: Add nuts and garlic
Fold in the chopped walnuts, garlic and pepper. Salt is usually unnecessary with hard cheese, but taste it.
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Step 4: Pipe into the shells
Transfer the cream to a piping bag and fill the tartlets. A spoon works, but the bag gives a neat top without smeared edges.
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Step 5: Finish
Top each with a walnut half and a few pomegranate seeds — the sour note the rich cheese is missing.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Grate the cheese finely: coarse shreds make the cream stringy and it will not pass through a piping nozzle.
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Tip
The cream stiffens in the fridge. If it feels too firm, loosen it with a spoon of sour cream — not milk, which thins it permanently.
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Variation
Replace part of the hard cheese with 50 g of blue: sharper, and better with red wine.
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Storage
The cream keeps three days. Because the filling is dense, the assembled tartlets survive up to three hours on the table.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 8 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 270 kcal | 2,160 kcal |
| Protein | 10 g | 80 g |
| Fat | 20 g | 160 g |
| Carbohydrates | 12 g | 96 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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