Mushroom Onion Tartlets

This recipe came with my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer manual. I’ve made these tartlets on several occasions, the last being Saturday night when we had Seyda and Rob over for some hot plate grilling dinner. These warm appetizers are often quite a hit and are easy to make.

MUSHROOM ONION TARTLETS RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 4 Oz Light Cream Cheese, softened
• 3 Tbsps Butter or Margarine, Divided
• 3/4 Cup plus 1 Tsp All Purpose Flour
• 8 Oz Fresh Mushrooms, Coarsely Chopped
• 1/2 Cup Green Onions, Chopped
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 Tsp Dried Thyme Leaves
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Swiss Cheese

Method:

Place cream cheese and 2 tbsps butter in a bowl and beat with hand or stand mixer for about one minute. Add flour to mixture and on low speed, continuing mixing until well blended. You quickly use your hands to knead the dough as well. Form into a ball, wrap in wax paper and chill for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, melt remaining 1 tbsp of butter in a pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms and onions. Cook and stir until tender. Remove from heat and let cool. Then, divide chilled dough into 24 pieces and press each piece into miniature greased muffin cup.

Preheat oven @ 375F. Whisk egg and pour it into mushroom mixture. Add flour, thyme and cheese. Stir well to combine. Spoon mixture into pastry-lined muffin cups. Bake @ 375 F for 15-20 minutes, or till egg mixture is puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.June’s comments: I baked my tartlets for about 30 minutes as I wanted my crusts a little golden brown. I’ve usually made these tarts without thyme leaves, and will add a pinch or salt to taste. Since I have some dried thyme leaves sitting in my pantry, I added some this time. I must say, I prefer it without the thyme leaves. Feel free to also crack some fresh black pepper into the mushroom mixture. Oh yeah, I stick to regular cream cheese instead of the light ones.

This time, I pre-lined my pan with mini cupcake liners and pressed the crust in. This resulted  with an easier removal without having to over grease the muffin pan/cups.

Another delicious (and easier) way to make these tartlets which I simply love is to use puff pastry instead for the crust. Thaw puff pastry, unfold it, dust some flour and slightly roll to flatten it. Then use a suitable round cookie cutter to cut the pastries and press them into slightly greased muffin cups.  Baked these until pastry is golden brown. The flaky puff pastry complemented the mushroom filling very well.  Here’s a picture of the mushroom tartlets with puff pastry crust which I made last Christmas. =)