Catfish Out of Water

I've been in a miniature foods mood. Do you ever want to feel like one of those British ladies in hats who eats nothing but conveniently bite-sized foods? In the culinary world, this is ordinarily called a huge pain in the you-know-what. Nevertheless, I decided to make a couple dozen Miniature Birthday Cheesecakes & Tarts. Which did, yes, make me feel like a rich lady at a garden party. But it also gave me an excuse to buy a miniature cheesecake pan with removeable bottoms. Which I know is not going to be something that everyone has lying around!

I don't often get new culinary gadgets. I have almost everything that I could possibly want to use and I have a penchant for ranting on the futile nature of fad culinary appliances and all of the hoity toity stuff that you absolutely don't need. You can make this recipe with a full-sized springform pan or with any tart pans that have removeable bases, fluted edges or not. You could even use muffin tins. Just make sure to extra butter to grease the pans if they don't have a removeable base.

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Variations of Miniature Quiche

This Miniature Quiche recipe came about because I had some extra vanilla wafers leftover after making Cheesecake w/ Berries & Whipped Cream. As much as I like graham crackers? Vanilla wafers make a far superior crust. I always end up with some extra vanilla wafers after making cheesecake, though. And, as much as I like eating them plain? I decided to be a little bit more festivous this year and go for some extra crusts to make equally delightful miniature quiche. These are going to be a little bit more on the sweet side, so feel free to make a sweeter quiche with things like berries and cream cheese, or complimentary savory ingredients.

Quiche w/ Apples, Bananas, & Truffle Gruyere

Pear, Blackberry, & Blue Cheese Quiche

Quiche w/ Greek Yogurt, Spinach, & Blue Cheese

Miniature Quiche w/ Spinach & Gouda

These Miniature Quiche consist of eggs, cream cheese, Dijon mustard, spinach, garlic, cherry tomatoes, and gouda cheese with quick and easy vanilla wafer, butter, and sugar crust.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine French

Servings 24 min quiche

Equipment

• Food Processor
• Miniature Cheesecake Pan w/ Removeable Base
• Oven

Ingredients

  

Crust

• 1½ c. vanilla wafers (200 g.)
• 6 tbsp. butter (preferably unsalted)
• 1/4 c. sugar granulated

Quiche

• 6 eggs
• 1½ c. cream cheese (or Greek yogurt or milk)
• 1½ tsp. Dijon mustard
• dash salt
• dash pepper
• 2 c. spinach
• 3 cloves garlic
• 8 oz. cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
• 8 oz. gouda divided 4 oz. + 4 oz.

Instructions

 

Cook Crust

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Grease the pan.
• Add vanilla wafers to food processor and process for 1-2 minutes, or until the wafers turn into fine crumbs.

  You want 1½ cups of vanilla wafer crumbs, so you'll need to add about twice as much whole vanilla wafers to reach this amount. I find it easier to just weigh out 200 grams, which is the equivalent of 1½ cups. It's also okay if it's slightly more or slightly less. This isn't the kind of cake where 205 grams is going to matter.
• Add butter and sugar to vanilla wafer crumbs and process for 2 minutes, or until the mixture is fully incorporated and begins to form a ball.
• Add wafer mixture to the pan and firmly pack down.
• Bake for 10 minutes.
• Remove from oven and set aside.

Quiche

• Whisk eggs, cream cheese, mustard, salt, and pepper together. Set aside.

  It can help to mix this in a food processor because the cream cheese is difficult to whisk by hand. Although you can do this with a metal whisk or fork. A plastic whisk would probably not work to break up the chunks!
• Add spinach and garlic to a food processor. Pulse until roughly chopped.

  Alternatively, you can chop the spinach and mince the shallots and garlic by hand.
• Press spinach mixture on top of the crust.
• Sprinkle half of the parmesan cheese on the bottom of the pan.

  You want half of the cheese inside of the quiche and half of it sprinkled on top.
• Add 1-3 tomato halves to each of the pans. How many fit will vary slightly depending on the size of the tomatoes and the size of the pans.
• Pour egg mixture into the pan.
• Sprinkle the remainder of the cheese and top with a dash of salt and pepper.
• Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until set and the cheese on top is lightly browned.
• Serve immediately or chilled. Quiche is a great recipe to make ahead of time because it keeps well and is just as good cold. If you do reheat it, though, I would recommend heating in the oven. Oftentimes egg dishes don't microwave well as this tends to overcook them.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

• You can also make this in a springform pan, tart pan, cast iron skillet, or really any round baking dish. I've been obsessed with these little miniature cheesecake pans, so I'm going with that today. Although I ordinarily make crustless quiche in a cast iron skillet. There are a lot of options here!
• I also have an entire article on The Fundamentals of Crustless Quiche with more tips and tricks on whether or not you want a crust, whether or not you need dairy or cheese, the type of pan to use, and a recommendation of toppings.