I've had two failed attempts at making Camembert (or Brie Tarts, Tartlets, Bites, or Pies), first with wraps as the casing and the second time with shop bought puff pastry. The wrap casings went soft, and the puff pastry heat sealed itself to the muffin tray and had to be chiselled out. So I returned to my old faithful homemade food processor all butter pastry (from a 20+ year old Good Housekeeping magazine cutting), which I make Chicken & Ham Pies, Mince Pies, and Quiche with, to make Camembert Tartlets (or Pies, or Bites)
Makes 20-24
175g plain flour
100g cold salted butter, cubed
250g Camembert or Brie
Thinly sliced garlic, rosemary sprig, or Cranberry Sauce (optional)
Place the flour and cubed butter into a food processor with 2 tablespoons cold water. Pulse a few times, add another tablespoon of cold water and pulse a few times again. Keep adding a tablespoon of water and pulsing a few times until the flour and butter begins to look like breadcrumbs. I find the Aldi flour I use takes about 4 tablespoons of water to get to this texture. After 4 tablespoons of water, run the food processor for a few seconds continuously to make the pastry clump together into a rough ball, adding a little more water if it doesn't.
When formed into a ball, tip out onto a floured surface, shape into a block and place in a plastic bag in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
After the pastry has rested (it apparently should rest to allow the gluten to relax so it doesn't shrink as much, and making the butter harden and make the dough easier to work with - but it is not essential if you really don't have time to let it rest), roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut out disks with a pastry cutter. I used my largest round cutter and made 20 disks. Had I gone a cutter smaller, I might have been able to cut 24 disks.
Lightly grease the mince pie tin with a little vegetable oil and place a disk over each hole. Don't worry about pushing them down into the hole as they will fall back into them once into the hot oven.
Cut the camembert into as many disks as you have cut. Place the cheese in the centre of each disk. I cut my Camembert into small wedges, which I cut in half again to get a rough square in the centre.
Sandwich the garlic and a few rosemary leaves between the slices of cheese, if using. If using cranberry sauce, place 1/2 a teaspoon on top.
Bake at 180C for 18 minutes, turning half way through the cooking time, until lightly golden.
Leave to cool for a few minutes so the cheese is not molten, but serve warm.
We warmed these up at 180C for 2 minutes in an air fryer at a family gathering yesterday.
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