Cheese Tarts
Contributed by Judith Carr

Original recipe from A. W., A Book of Cookery, 1591:

To Make a Tart of Cheese. Take a good fine paste and drive it as thin as you can. Then take cheese, pare it, mince it and braye it in a mortar with the yolks of Egs til it be like paste, then put it in a faire dish with clarified butter and put it abroade your paste and cover it witha faire cut. Cover, and so bake it; that done, serve it forth.

Modern recipe:

  • 1 lb. shredded cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp. each salt & ground mustard
  • 1/8 tsp. each pepper & ginger
  • 1 1/8 tbs. butter
  • pastry for 1 double crust pie
Combine cheese, eggs, spices and butter. Put 3 cups of this mixture in an unbaked pie shell. I interpret A. W.'s "faire cut" cover as a closed lid with a shaped cut-out. I used a Thistle shape when making this pie for a feast for the The Marche of the Thistle (SCA chapter in Kent, Ohio). Bake at 375º F for 20-25 minutes or until crust is browned and a knife inserted in the pie comes out clean. The recipe makes 8 small pieces per pie.

Cheese Tarts is featured in Auld Alliance Royal Feast

Metric, Celsius, & Gas Mark Equivalencies

Judith Carr is an expert in Medieval baking and antique furniture restoration. An active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, she is known for her love of animals, especially cats.

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