4 ingredients Cherry tomato tartlets made from puff pastry, cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, coarse salt, and a few basil leaves. An ideal appetizer for a summer party or as a light lunch. A burst of sweetness and color on your table.
The first step for making these cherry tomato tartlets is to prepare the stuffing mixture. For that, just mix the cream cheese with spinach or other aromatic herbs you decide to use. Then use a knife and cut a few squares of puff pastry and form the tartlets.
If you want even better results, consider making your own puff pastry if you can’t find a good quality dough in the stores.
After that, assemble the tartlets with cream cheese, a few slices of cherry tomatoes, and a little bit of coarse salt to get a more intense tomato flavor. Bake them in the oven if you need to serve them for a big crowd or just use your air fryer if you plan to make only a few tartlets.
After baking, let them cool down for a few minutes and serve them while they are still warm, but they can also be enjoyed at room temperature.
You will like making those cherry tomato tartlets because they are very easy to make, you can easily adjust the ingredients and use a different stuffing mixture and they will look fancy which is ideal when you are pressed by time but you need to put something good-looking on the table.
🥰 Why You Will Love This Recipe?
- It is flavorful due to the herbs. But because you will have only a few ingredients, you should use the best quality of those ingredients you can find.
- You will need only a few simple ingredients and you can easily substitute them if it will be needed.
- It’s a simple recipe, but it looks fancy. Ideal to make when you’re limited on time but you need to put something good-looking on the table.
🥘 Ingredients and Substitutes
- Puff Pastry. I used puff pastry, but you could also substitute it with another type of dough that you prefer to use for tartlets. An example would be shortbread dough.
- Cream Cheese. You can replace it with another cheese that becomes creamy when baked, such as mascarpone, ricotta, or gorgonzola.
- Basil. In combination with tomatoes, this is the best option you can combine. However, if you don’t have the basil at hand, you could replace it with oregano, thyme, or rosemary.
- Tomatoes. I used fresh cherry tomatoes because they are more flavorful and sweet. You could also use dehydrated tomatoes. If you don’t have cherry tomatoes, then you can use regular tomatoes, but you will have to cut them smaller.
- Salt. I used kosher salt to intensify the taste of the tomatoes. If you opt for a saltier cheese, you could omit the salt.
- Olive Oil. We will need the olive oil only in the end to sprinkle the tartlets with a little bit of it to give a pleasant Mediterranean aroma.
👩🍳 Step-by-step Directions
Chop the aromatic herbs you have decided to use and put them in a bowl together with the cheese.
Mix well to obtain a uniform composition.
Cut the dough into squares with a side of 4″. After this, use a small, well-sharpened knife, and make some internal cuts at a distance of ⅓” from the edge.
Quick Note: It is important that at 2 opposite internal corners, the cuts intersect, and at the other 2 corners remain uncut. (See image 1 from the image collage below).
After this, fold the internal edges connecting the cut corner to the opposite corner (image 2).
Repeat the same step with the other corner (image 3).
Thus, in the end, you will get a tartlet with double edges (image 4).
After you have formed the tartlets, fill them with the stuffing mixture that we just made (image 5).
In the end, add some sliced cherry tomatoes on top (picture 6).
Sprinkle a few crystals of coarse salt on each slice of tomato. This will intensify the tomato taste and will eliminate the excess juice from the tomatoes. After this, put the tartlets to bake in the oven or air fryer if you have one.
Quick Note: If you have both options, then I will recommend you to make them in the oven, if you need to make a larger quantity of tartlets for a crowd, and if you only have to make it for a few people, then bake the tartlets in the air fryer because it will be quicker and easier.
If you make them in the air fryer, then bake the tartlets at 300°F for about 15-20 minutes.
In the end, you will get some perfectly baked tartlets.
Add a few basil leaves for a complete combination. Cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, and basil. Yummy!
🍽️ Serving Suggestions
You can serve the cherry tartlets as an appetizer at an outdoor dinner because they are easy to eat while you are on the move. Also, you can take them with you for a snack.
🏆 Expert Tips. What to Pay Attention To?
- If you want the dough to be more golden after baking, you can brush the tartlets with a beaten egg before baking.
- Use a dough that has a good taste, preferably based on butter, because the final taste largely depends on the quality of the dough you will use.
- If you have time, you can make the dough at home to be sure of its quality.
- Use tomatoes as small as possible because they will look better and you will be able to place more tomatoes on the tartlets.
- Use good-quality tomatoes, because they are the star of the plate.
- You can add more aromatic herbs to get a more intense and interesting taste.
- Alternatively, you could replace the cream cheese with another cheese that has a stronger flavor.
♻️ Make Ahead, Storage and Heating:
Can I Prepare It Ahead?
This recipe is suitable to be cooked ahead of time because it is delicious even cold. If you don’t have enough time on the day you want to serve them, you can cook them the day before. Just ensure that you will cover them well with a cling film. Otherwise, they may dry out. Also, ensure that you will not overlap them one on top of the other to avoid deforming them as the dough is fragile.
How Long Does they Last in the Fridge?
You can keep the tomato cherry tartlets in the fridge for up 3-4 days in an air-tight container.
Can You Freeze them?
You can freeze them in a single layer for about 6 months if you will keep the tartlets in an air-tight container. When you want to serve them, leave them in the refrigerator overnight so that all the ingredients thaw evenly. After that, reheat them in the oven and serve.
How to Reheat the Tartlets?
If you prefer to serve them warm, put them in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes.
📋 Recipe Card:
Cherry Tomato Tartlets with Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 30 oz Puff Pastry
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 4 leafs Basil
- 12 pieces Cherry Tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Finely chop the basil.
- Mix the basil with the cream cheese.
- Form the tartlets. (Check the image from the full recipe)
- Fill the tartlets with the cream cheese mix.
- Put a few slices of cherry tomatoes on top of the tartlets.
- Sprinkle coarse salt over each tomato slice.
- Bake the tartlets in the air fryer or in the oven until the dough is cooked. In my case, I baked them in the air fryer at 300°F for about 15-20 minutes.
Quick Note
I highly recommend reading the entire recipe to find more tips and notes about this recipe. Read Full Recipe ⇑
Notes
- Quality Matters: Use the highest quality ingredients for the best taste, especially since the recipe is simple with few components.
- Dough Tip: If you can, opt for homemade puff pastry for a richer flavor and better texture.
- Tomato Choice: Small, sweet cherry tomatoes not only taste great but also make for a more attractive presentation.
- Serving Warm: If you want to serve them warm, reheat them in the oven for 5 minutes before serving.
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