11. Goats Cheese and Balsamic Onion Tarts

I've just had my last week at my temp job and so my coworkers have had their last set of baked goods. There were requests for cakes, biscuits, doughnuts, repeats of things I've made before. Some requests were more reasonable than others... How am I supposed to bring a cream filled Swedish Princess cake (they made it on Bake Off once) on the tube at rush hour?? I couldn't decide between their requests, so I decided to ignore them completely.

I. Went... SAVOURY.

Hold your gasps of shock please, it does happen once in a while. The tarts were requested so many times that I decided they were a good idea, but I don't like doing repeats so soon, so I decided that tarts don't need to be sweet, savoury can be just as good.

Having a quick trawl of the internet I came across a load of different savoury tart recipe ideas including this one, and a tomato tart . Onion and goats cheese tarts was a popular recipe, with tons of different sites giving their twist. So I put my own twist on.

They went down extremely well, I hope you enjoy them too!

Makes 18-24 tarts

Ingredients

For the pastry

200g (7oz) plain flour
100g (3.5oz) butter, room temperature
1 tbsp mixed herbs
Pinch of salt

For the filling

One red onion, sliced
125g (4.5oz) goats cheese
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 knob butter
Pinch sugar

Method

Make your pastry. Cube the butter and rub in the flour, salt and herbs until it forms breadcrumbs and then a short dough. You made need to press it together to get it to form a dough. If it is too short to just stay together, add a small splash of water to moisten it.
Wrap your dough in clingfilm and chill for 15 minutes.
Melt the butter in a lidded frying pan and add in the sliced onion. Cover with a lid and cook on a low to medium heat for 10 minutes until they soften. Then remove the lid and add in the sugar and balsamic vinegar. WARNING: This will smell. Get your extractor fan on or at least close the door and open a window!
Cook the onions for a further 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has evaporated and the onions are "jammy". Leave to one side.
Preheat the oven to 175C.
Roll out your dough to about 1/8" thick and then use a circular cutter, size depending on the size of your tin, to stamp out your rounds. Press your dough a pre greased tart or tartlet tin.
Bake the tart cases for 12 minutes and then take out.
Cut the goats cheese into 24 (or however many tarts you made) chunks.
Divide your onion mixture between the tarts. Top with a chunk of goats cheese and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes until the cheese has slightly melted and the tart cases are just golden.
Enjoy!