Camembert tartelette

One of the highlights of our trip to Normandy was the food. And one of our favorites in Normandy was the Camembert tartelette which we had (twice) in Bayeux. After returning home we tried to recreate the experience on our trip to Michigan. We scoured the internet for a recipe for Camembert tartelette, obtained locally available products and hatched up a meal. It wasn't right.

I requested from TOPWHL and TCWUTH that my most recent birthday provide me with a surprise gift of tartelette pans. Be careful about putting TCWUTH on any such mission unless you are prepared to be the owner of the absolutely finest tartelette pans available anywhere in the world.

Thanks sweeties.

 I had identified what I thought were two problems in the Michigan effort. First, although plenty of good brie seems to be available out there, the camembert we eventually used was not of the highest quality. Second, the recipe we used seemed more to me to be a recipe for a cheese quiche. Too much egg. What I had in mind was a cheese tart, not a quiche.

I was at the supermarket recently anticipating what I would do when the surprise gift of tartelette pans actually appeared in my kitchen. I have some notoriety for having introduced the crescent roll crust pizza into the family menu, I was thinking that perhaps a crescent roll crust might be just the ticket for the tart I wanted to make.

And, voila, I found a recipe for a cheese tartelette on the label of the crescent roll container. The recipe was for a swiss cheese tartelette making 12 from a single container. I went ahead and tried to adapt. Here's what the adaptation looked like just out of the oven.

AND, it was tres tasty. We are both very happy with the result. We used camembert, upon reflection it is a cheese tart, there is absolutely no reason why the same recipe would not produce an excellent brie tartelette. We have been successful on numerous occasions at obtaining an excellent brie in Michigan.

Here we go then:

1 8 ounce can Pillsbury crescent rolls (either the dinner rolls or the seamless dough would work, I used the seamless dough)

8 ounces of Camembert or other smooshy cheese, the higher the quality cheese the better the dish. It is important that the cheese be pretty soft already as the melting of the cheese is integral to preparation of the dish.

Bacon. I used four strips of microwave bacon. Prepare this plenty in advance (a half hour or so) as you are going to want to be able to handle the bacon to break it into small bits.

A smallish amount of chopped green onion. I got one bunch (2 for a dollar) from Cub and it was about right (about 7 pieces).

1 egg

3 tablespoons whipping cream. Mine cost $2, maybe TOPWLH can use the rest in her morning coffee.

I also added some bottled sliced mushrooms

Here's what all of that looked like just before the next step. Everyone please note the spectacularly wonderful Le Creuset tartelette pans.

Heat oven to 375F.

Unroll dough, press into whatever pan you are using. I cut my dough into fourths and had to trim and adjust to make the four square pieces fit into my four round pans. The crescent roll dough is sufficiently flexible to allow this. The original recipe anticipates using a cupcake pan with a yield of 12. A larger tart pan might require use of the whole roll for a single tart.

Half of the cheese on the bottom. Then the bacon, the mushrooms and the onions.  Then the rest of the cheese.

In a small bowl beat the cream and the egg until blended and then divide the mixture evenly among the four tartelettes. This is what it looked like just after going into the oven.

Perhaps of further interest is a Pillsbury Kitchens recommendation I found on the internet version of the back of the can Crescent roll recipe:  Keep refrigerated dough in the fridge until you're ready to use it, cold dough is much easier to work with.  Have all the other ingredients ready to use.

And this is what it looked like coming out.

Bake 15 or 20 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the filling is set. Cool 5 minutes.

Improvements for next time. The cheese rind does not diminish from the taste but it does slightly mar the appearance. It would be easy enough to make sure that no piece of rind is at the top to the tart.

Cooling for more than 5 minutes is not an issue. We had ours with a large tossed salad, you don't need HOT with a tossed salad. A little bit cooler will allow the filling to set up a little bit more and should not affect your enjoyment of a Norman treat, the camembert tartelette.

Did I mention that we both liked ours a lot.