Mini Quiche Lorraine

This lovely recipe for Mini Quiche Lorraine is very easy to make. It is adaptable too, to include other ingredients to suit tastes.

Since these are mini quiches some mini tart cases are needed. For mine I like to use disposable mini tart cases. They are available to buy quite cheaply so I buy about 100 at a time. Of course metal or silicone mini tart pans will work very well too.

So let’s talk about the recipe. It is very simple. However it does take some time. That time, though, is mainly waiting time. The resultant mini quiches are a delight.

It seems that Quiche Lorraine is basically just egg, bacon and milk and/or cream. But these days it is very common to use some grated hard cheese as well, giving extra flavour.

But, ignoring the bacon element, you can use other ingredients. That will make different, but still delicious, mini quiches.

For a hard cheese I like to use Gruyere, which melts very well. But Comté is very good too, as is Cheddar.

This recipe will make 12 mini quiches each using about 53g(just under two ounces) of pastry for 4 inch(10 cm) cases.

For ease I like to divide my pastry into 4 pieces, keeping the remainder chilled. But in the recipe below I will simply detail rolling out the pastry, so you can roll out all of it or divide it as you wish.

Ingredients For Mini Quiche Lorraine

Pastry

Flour – Plain flour, or bread flour.

Butter – Cold unsalted butter is best. You can use salted butter, but then you can reduce, or omit, the salt specified.

Egg Yolks – Medium sized egg yolks in UK/Europe which would be large sized in North America.

Water – Ice cold water.

Salt – To draw out the buttery flavour.

Filling

Eggs – For the recipe we use some whole UK/Europe medium eggs and additional medium egg yolks. In each case that would be large sized in North America.

Bacon – Bacon lardons, or chopped streaky bacon. This can be smoked or unsmoked according to preference.

Cheese – Grated hard cheese, such as Gruyere, Comté or Cheddar.

Cream/Milk – I like to use a combination of double cream and semi-skimmed milk(2 %), since they are what I always have in my fridge. The ratio of cream to milk in this version is 2 to 1. But you can vary that too.

Salt and Pepper – To taste. The amount of salt should depend on how salty the bacon and cheese is as they will affect the overall level.

Process for Mini Quiche Lorraine

The process is all very straightforward.

First make the pastry, since it has to chill for a couple of hours before use.

You can make the pastry by hand, in a large bowl, rubbing the butter into the salt and flour, to achieve a sandy texture. Then you mix in the egg yolks and water until you have a nice soft pastry. But I find it easier to do it all in the processor bowl of my immersion blender.

Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and chill it for at least 2 hours.

After 2 hours roll out the pastry to a thickness of 2mm, which is slightly thinner than a one pound coin.

Cut out discs from the pastry which are about 15cm in diameter ( about 6 inches) and use them to line your mini quiche cases. Press the pastry against the side and then bend any excess over the edge and cut it off.

Press the sides again and just push the pastry onto the rim of the case. Use a fork to prick all over the base.

Re-roll all the excess pastry to roll out more to line all the cases.

Place them on baking trays and chill them in the fridge for an hour. As the hour comes to an end preheat the oven(180C/160C Fan/350F).

Line each pastry case with a square of parchment paper and fill it with rice, or baking beans etc.

Baking

Blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes. Then remove the rice and parchment paper and bake for a further 4 minutes. After that you can brush some egg white(you should have some available, since you are using some yolks in the recipe), over the surface of the pastry and bake for a further one minute.

Set the pastry cases aside.

As the pastry blind bakes you can fry off the bacon until it starts to colour and it cooked to your liking. Then set it aside.

Whisk the eggs, additional yolks, cream and milk together and season as desired.

Divide the bacon lardons into the pastry cases and then do the same with the grated cheese. Carefully pour the cream and egg liquid into the cases until just about full.

Transfer the baking trays to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the egg rises well and the top browns nicely.

Remove them from the oven, the eggs will settle down almost immediately. Leave them to cool. They will set very well. You can also serve them whilst still warm.

My Mini Quiche Lorraine

I originally thought that 20 to 25 minutes of baking the quiche would be enough. However, I actually let mine bake for the full 25 minutes and I think that even 30 minutes might be fine for some ovens. So in the recipe below I now specify 25 to 30 minutes.

My pastry blind baked just perfectly. Then, 25 minutes of baking allowed my egg filling to rise well and brown nicely. There was just slight jiggle to the centre. So I let mine cool completely before sampling.

The pastry was perfectly cooked, tender and crumbly, but holding the filling well. The taste of the filling, as you can imagine was wonderful. With the bacon and cheese coming through and the soft creamy egg complementing them.

These little tarts are just perfect for lunch. They also freeze well to be saved for later too.

Another lovely recipe is Belgian Buns – Iced Lemon Curd Buns

Mini Quiche Lorraine

Recipe by geoffcoo

Course: Pies, Tarts, Stove top/SavouryCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: Medium

Servings

12

servings

Prep time(excl waiting)

30

minutes

Cooking(incl Blind baking)

55

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• Pastry

• 300g(2 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour

• 240g(1 cup + 1 tbsp) cold unsalted butter

• 2 medium egg yolks(large in USA)

• 60ml(1/4 cup) ice cold water

• 3g(1/2 tsp) salt

• Filling

• 3 medium eggs(large in USA)

• 3 medium egg yolks(large in USA)

• 200g(7 oz) bacon lardons

• 140g(5 oz) hard cheese, grated

• 500ml(2 cups) double cream

• 250ml(1 cups) milk

• salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Place the flour and salt, along with the butter, into the bowl of a processor(or you can do it all by hand).
• Pulse the ingredients until they resemble coarse sand.
• Add the egg yolks and water and process until everything clumps together into a ball of pastry dough.
• Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. Then chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
• Flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of 2 mm(slighter less than the thickness of a one pound coin). Note: I divide my dough into four pieces, for ease of rolling.
• Cut out discs of 15 cm(6 inches), rerolling the dough to make more.
• Line eachmini tart case with the pastry, pressing up against the sides and cutting off any excess.
• Press against the sides again to slightly cover the rim.
• Prick the base all over with the tines of a fork.
• Place the cases on baking trays and chill in the fridge for an hour.
• As the hour comes to an end preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F.
• Line each case with a square of parchment paper that comes up higher than the rim,
• Fill the paper with rice or baking beans, or similar.
• Bake the pastry for 20 minutes.
• Remove the rice and the parchment paper and bake for a further 4 minutes.
• Brush the inside of the pastry with egg white(from separating the yolks for the recipe).
• Bake for a further one minute then set aside.
• As the pastry blind bakes fry the bacon in a dry pan, until it starts to colour and is cooked to your liking. Then set it aside.
• Whisk the eggs, yolks, cream and milk together and add some salt and pepper to your taste.
• Divide the bacon into the tarts cases.
• Do the same with the cheese, spreading evenly.
• Carefully pour the cream and egg mixture into the pastry until just about full.
• Transfer the cases to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the egg mixture rises and browns on the top. Test that the centre is just slightly jiggly, indicating it is just about cooked.
• Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve warm or cold.