Smooth, rich, velvety, and creamy cheese filling with an aromatic pandan flavor, housed in an easy buttery graham cracker crust. It's a bit unorthodox, but you will love this easy Hokkaido baked cheese tart.
Prepare pandan extract: (prepare 24-48 hours before you plan to bake)
Cut pandan leaves into small pieces with scissors. Blend with water. Strain and squeeze out all liquid from the pulps. Cover and let the juice sit in the fridge for at least 24 hours. The extract will settle to the bottom of the container. Carefully pour off the liquid on top and use the extract at the bottom of the container, it should be about 30 grams
Prepare the filling:
Put soft cream cheese, mascarpone, parmesan cheese, and sugar in a saucepan and whisk until combined. Then add the egg, 30 grams of pandan extract if using homemade pandan extract, cornstarch, and milk, Whisk to combine until you don't see any lumps. Strain the mixture
Turn the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk until the mixture is smooth, shiny, creamy, and thickened but still flowy. Add the butter and cook until the butter melts. Stir in the pandan essence if you are not using homemade pandan extract
Chill the filling:
Transfer the filling to a bowl and cover with a cling wrap directly touching the surface of the filling to prevent a skin from forming. Put in the fridge to let it chill for at least 1 hour
Prebake the crust:
15 minutes before you plan to assemble the tart, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven, 330 F (165 C) for convection oven
Arrange the crust on a baking sheet. Beaten an egg white with a fork until frothy and loose. Brush the egg white on the crust. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool down for 5 minutes
After they have cooled down completely, I remove the tart shells from the mini aluminum pans they come in. I figure it's easier to remove them now before I put any filling inside. But you can leave them in the pan too
Assemble the tart:
Remove the filling from the fridge and give it a good stir. You can transfer the filling to a piping bag or just use a spoon to fill the tart shells
Distribute the filling evenly among 14 tarts. Dip your point finger with a bit of water and dab the pointy part of the filling to flatten it
Freeze the filling in the freezer:
Put the baking tray in the freezer and let them freeze for 30 minutes. This makes it easier to brush the egg yolk wash on top of the creamy filling
15 minutes before the end of freezing the filling, preheat the oven to 420 F (215 C) for conventional oven, 400 F (205 C) for convection oven
Brush the egg yolk wash:
Brush the egg yolk on the surface of the frozen filling, make sure to cover the edge of the tart too. Brush the second layer if necessary
Baking:
Bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the tart cool down completely.
Carefully store them in an air-tight container and keep in the fridge. The filling will "set" further in the fridge but will still be flowy and thick. They taste better when they are chilled
To serve:
Served them chilled
To store:
They can be kept in the fridge for about 3-4 days. The longer you keep them in the fridge, the softer the tart shells will be. The tarts freeze very well. So I usually store them in an air-tight freezer-friendly container for max of one month. Simply thaw in the fridge the night before you plan to serve and they are as good as new