Little cherry cheese tarts

These are Queijadas de Evora from Portugal. You can make tiny ones in patty tins, dessert-size in individual tins, or make one large tart. But whatever the size, they’re irresistible.

200 g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp icing sugar
100 g butter
1 egg, separated
200 g cream cheese
60 g caster sugar
120 ml cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp lemon juice
200 g fresh or bottled cherries, stoned and roughly chopped
Stemmed cherries or maraschino cherries to garnish

Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter. Add the egg yolk and enough cold water to mix to a dough. Knead it lightly, roll it out on a floured surface and line six individual tartlet tins, re-rolling the pastry as necessary. Prick the pastry with a fork and chill for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC, line each tart with a small square of greaseproof paper and baking beans and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and brush with the lightly beaten egg white. Return to the oven, cook for a few minutes more until golden brown, then let them cool. When they are cold, take them out of the tins and stand them on a baking tray. Reduce the oven temperature to 160º C.

Beat the cream cheese and caster sugar together in a bowl. Blend in the cream, beaten eggs and lemon juice. Divide the chopped cherries between the tarts, then top with the cheese mixture and bake them for about 25 minutes or until the filling has set but still has a very slight wobble in the centre. Let them cool and then chill until ready to serve.

Dust with icing sugar, decorate with stemmed cherries and serve with cream. (Makes 12 small, six dessert-size or one 23-cm tart)