Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

I finally got down to using the last of my pie dough (or Pâte brisée for the finicky) from a really long time ago. Believe it or not, the finished tart crusts still taste as good even after staying frozen for close to two months! This proves that pie/tart doughs can be frozen for really long periods of time without any compromise in taste or texture! Thanks to the 35+ degrees weather as well, the dough thaws in no time (actually about 15 minutes before they are malleable) and you can have a tart, or many tartlets if you so desire, assembled and ready to bake and ready to eat in less than hour!

This is my very own rendition of the blueberry cream cheese tart, which is quite popular locally. The recipe is very loosely adapted from Aunty Yochana’s recipe and an old clipping from the newspaper (no source) I found in my mom’s recipe book:

Recipe for Blueberry Cream Cheese Tartlets 

Makes 15 5–cm tartlets 

Ingredients:
For the tart crust: 
Use the Foolproof Pie Dough recipe here

For the cream cheese filling: 
125 g    cream cheese
30 g      icing sugar
½ tsp    lemon zest
½ tsp    vanilla extract
25 ml    evaporated milk
1 tbl      cornstarch
1           egg
Some blueberry jam (or fresh blueberry compote)

Method:

1. Prepare the tart shells. If preparing from frozen tart dough, thaw the dough until malleable, before pressing the dough into the tart moulds. Once done, place the tart moulds into the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to allow the dough to harden so that you don’t have to blind-bake the tarts. After freezing, place the tarts directly into a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes until yellow-golden in color and remove to cool on the wire rack.
2. Prepare the cream cheese filling. Allow the cream cheese to soften before beating in the sugar until creamy. Crack the egg into the mixture, together with the lemon zest and vanilla extract, mixing well. Pour in the evaporated milk and mix until well incorporated.
3. Completing the blueberry cream cheese tart. Pour the cream cheese filling into the cooled tart shells, until about 80% filled. Spoon some blueberry jam into the tart shells. To create a marbled effect, use a toothpick to draw the blueberry jam in the cream cheese in a swirly motion. Bake the tarts at 180 degrees for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cream cheese filling is set and the tart crust is golden brown in color. Remove from oven and cool for at least 30 minutes before consuming.

Janine's jots:

• Taste: The lemon zest and vanilla extract were not too overwhelming - they provided a subtle twang and sweetness to the cream cheese filling. I felt that more lemon could be used to up the tanginess of the tart, and more blueberry compote used to complement that tanginess. 
• Serving size: Each tart was almost bite-size - my mouth wasn't that huge, so I had to have two bites before the tart disappeared. This recipe has been downsized, and recipes I've seen easily double or quadruple the amounts you see here. If you wish to use larger tart pans (ie, not tartlet sizes), just increase the baking time appropriately. 
• Modifications: Some recipes call for whipping cream to be used instead, but since the cream is not whipped before use, the purpose is the same as evaporated milk here - to provide a thickness and sweetness to the mixture. So just use whichever you have ready in your pantry. 
• Storage: Because the tarts contain cream cheese, I'd advise storage in the fridge. The tarts store well in the fridge - I ate a few the day after and the following day - all you need is to give it a quick zap in the microwave to warm it up or in a minute in a toaster oven. 
• Would I make this again? Maybe - I'm not a fan of cream cheese tarts - I prefer fresh fruits in a tart, but nevertheless, this recipe is yet another keeper because it was well-received by my family =) I'll definitely make it again without hesitation should my family request it - the fact that it's so easy to make helps too!
• [ETA] Comments: Now I know the reason for my wrinkly tops - overbaking! I saw that Lena used a really low temperature of 115 degrees to 'cook' the cream cheese filling - am definitely trying out the low temperature thing next time!

Tartlets for tea? The teacup in the background is purely for propping purposes - notice that it actually is empty! =p

Finally, I get a nice overhead shot of my food without my shadow on them =)

Experimenting with yet another angle - the light coming from the left has changed somewhat? 

As you can see, I still need (a lot of) work with my swirling. Most people actually use blueberry jam, so it's actually much easier to swirl it together with the cream cheese filling. I tried to be smart - I didn't have blueberry jam on hand, but I did have fresh blueberries, so I basically cooked the fresh blueberries together with some sugar syrup before adding them into the cream cheese filling. Because I didn't strain the skins, the blueberry jam I was working with was not smooth and was much harder to swirl since it promptly sank to the bottom once I added it into the filling. Nevertheless, the blueberries were still awesome!

Baking-wise, can anyone enlighten me - why do the nicely domed tops of my tarts (when they just come out of the oven) turn wrinkly and deflated once they cool? 

Photography-wise, I'd appreciate comments as to which of the photos above was the best/worse. I know that I have 5 photos of the tarts with the same black background on the same plate, but bear with me - I'm still experimenting with angles and apertures. I know there's a lot of blank space in the photos, and I hope to eventually be able to overcome my laziness to actually style my food properly before greedily consuming them =p

I'll be submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011), hosted by Jean.