Vegan cheese is a world of constantly evolving innovation, and I am more than happy to taste test my way around! Recently I purchased a cheeseboard selection box from Honestly Tasty. Their cheeses are incredible and I strongly recommend them! In the box was a block of brie, so naturally, I thought to make some vegan brie and apple tarts!
I adore pastry, I really don’t think there is anything you can’t make with it. A delicious savory pie? A sweet treat to round off a meal? A tart topped with great ingredients? Pastry is so versatile, but if you make it yourself it takes a lot of time. I’ll be the first to put my hand up and admit that I have never made puff pastry, it seems far too fiddly. However, most store-bought ready-rolled pastry is vegan! Double-check it before you buy but I know that Asda, Tesco, and Jus-rol are vegan. Jus-rol also does a fantastic range of baked treats, most of which are also vegan, I highly recommend the Pain Au Chocolat! It will make this recipe and any other pastry-based treats you make so much easier.
What’s in this brie and apple tart?
The star of this tart is of course the cheese. Honestly Tasty have really nailed their cheeses. They tasted fantastic and work so well in cooking. The selection box that you can see above did not last very long and I cannot wait to order another box and create another dish! The Sham you can see pictured was easily the best vegan camembert I have ever tried. The brie, or bree, melted really well in this dish without much time needed in the oven. A lovely cheese to cook with! In the picture below you can see how well it melts!
Now let’s talk about the filling of this tart. The onions and apple are a staple, cook them so that they have just started to caramelize to add a nice balance of sweetness that makes this vegan brie and apple tart feel more like a dessert than a main meal! Just as important is the chutney or something similar that you pair it with. This recipe makes 4 tarts so you can really go wild with your pairings! I made this for 2 people so I added caramelized onion chutney to my first two tarts. For the second set of tarts I paired them with a pear and walnut chutney, the nuts really added another dimension to the dish which I would strongly recommend.
Without further ado, let’s get on to the recipe! I would love to know which chutneys you add to your tarts. Will you go traditional with a caramelized onion, festive with cranberry, or go wild with something completely different? I hope you enjoy this recipe, let me know how you find it in the comments.
“Bree” & Apple Tarts
Ingredients
- 1 pack Ready Rolled Puff Pastry I used a lighter version, but the choice is yours!
- 2 medium Red Onions
- 60 g Vegan Brie
- 2 medium Granny Smith Apples
- 4 tbsp Chutney of choice
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Take out the pastry and allow it to warm to room temperature, this will stop the pastry cracking
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius, gas mark 4.
- Thinly slice your red onions and start to fry them in olive oil over a medium heat
- Whilst the onions start to cook thinly slice your apples
- Add the apples to the cooking onions and cook for about 10 minutes, until the apples are soft and teh onions are starting to caramelise
- Whilst the mixture is cooking, roll your pastry onto a baking tray and cut into 4 equal rectangles
- Put the pastry rectangles into the oven and cook for 6 minutes, this will stop the bases getting soggy when we top with the mixture.
- Cut the bree into slices about 2cm thick
- Once the pastry has cooked, remove it from the oven and place on a counter to be topped
- Add the onions and apples into the center of the pastry rectangles
- Top with a table spoon of your chosen chutney. I made two tarts with caramelized onion chutney and two with a pear and walnut chutney!
- Top the mixture with the bree
- Return the pastry to the oven for a further 5 to 10 minutes. Be careful not to allow the pastry to burn!
- Serve and enjoy!
