Bacon, Brie & Cranberry Short Crust Tart

This Bacon, Brie & Cranberry Short Crust Tart is a great sweet & savoury tart that is perfect for warmer evenings when lighter meals are on the cards!

Okay. So, I’ll be the first to admit, pastry isn’t my strongest suit. I don’t know why but it just never really comes out as planned. Until now! Everything came out exactly as I wanted to!

I had some left-over brie (I know, how!?), half a pack of bacon and some other bits and pieces and wondered “hey, what can I do with these”. I did originally think quiche but then thought that’s a lot to chuck out if it didn’t work out right. So, tarts it is! I’ve only ever made sweet tarts so something savoury is new to me.

Once I’d read up about basic fillings for quiches it was fairly easy to build up the layers of the tart and just wing it. As long as the individual elements worked the whole thing would come together nicely. As usual my pastry shrunk a bit, but hey, just before they went in the oven I was hungry and cracked on anyway!

How did the bacon, brie & cranberry short crust tart turn out?

I’m super pleased with how these bacon, brie & cranberry short crust tart s turned out. Crisp golden shortcrust pastry, a layer of beautifully sweet whole cranberry jelly, crunchy bacon and red onions under a layer of cheesy Cornish brie. It’s just a super well-balanced dish and really light too!

Those classic flavours worked so well in a tart. When does bacon and cheese not work out okay? They had lots of different textures it’s such a delight to cut into and watch molten brie just ooze out. The sweetness of the cranberry was enough to cut through the cheese and add that extra element.

So now, feeling thoroughly chuffed with myself I leave you to have a go. I served this with boiled new potatoes, a crisp baby leaf salad, homemade garlic croutons and a balsamic and olive oil dressing. I will be making this one again, VERY SOON.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Bacon, Brie & Cranberry Short Crust Tart

A great sweet & savoury tart that is perfect for warmer evenings when lighter meals are on the cards!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Keyword: bacon, brie, cranberry, quiche, tart

Servings: 4 People

Ingredients

• 200 g Short crust pastry dough Shop bought is fine!
• 1 Red Onion, finely chopped
• 275 g Brie, cut into 5mm thick strips
• 5 rashers Bacon (smoked or unsmoked, its your choice!)
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 100 ml Double Cream
• 1 Egg
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 40 g Cranberry Jelly
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Small hand-full of chives, chopped

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to gas mark 6 or 200°C
• Roll out the pastry dough to about 4mm thick and enough to cover 4 5" flan cases
• Place the pastry inside the cases and gently press against the edges. Trim any excess from the cases. With a fork, prick the base of the pastry. Cover with baking/grease proof paper and weigh down with baking beads or, if you don't have baking beans, white rice that you don't intend to use.
• Stick the cases into the oven for 18 – 20 minutes until golden on the edges. Take them out and remove the paper and baking beans. Return to the oven for 3 minutes to crisp up.
• Remove and set aside. Turn your oven down to gas mark 4 or 180C˚
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the finely chopped onion. When this has cooked through and begun to turn translucent, add the bacon and cook until the bacon has begun to turn golden and crispy. This should take about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Evenly distribute the cranberry jelly among the 4 pastry cases and spread with the underside of a teaspoon. Try and cover as much of the bottom as possible. Spoon the onion and bacon mix onto the cranberry jelly. Top evenly with the strips of brie and sprinkle chopped chives over the top.
• In a measuring jug, mix the cream, egg, garlic, salt and pepper and mix well. Carefully pour the mixture evenly between the 4 cases. Whack it in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until set and the top has turned a lovely light, golden colour.

Notes

I learnt a long time ago that when you’re blind baking your tart cases, if you crumple the baking/grease proof paper into a tight ball in your hands and then unwrap it, it is easier to get into all the different corners of your tart case!