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| Mini Tart Shells before the filling is added |
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| After filling with Lemon Curd, Cool Whip, and blueberries |
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| Grandma is DISPLAYING (like Vanna White) the Lemon Curd |
They would make a great sweet treat for a party, and can be done with any flavor of pudding or other similar type filling (mousse, etc.) that you prefer.
They can ALSO be made as a savory appetizer, when filled with something like chicken salad, or taco meat, or quiche fixings, etc.
Grandma looked in both Safeways and Whole Foods for the pre-made mini tart shells that she can buy at ANY TIME at Costco's. I've seen them at Giant Eagle as well. We have always been able to buy these tart shells when we don't need them. Now that Grandma wanted to find them, she couldn't see them ANYWHERE. I guess she may have purchased them at World Market (Cost Plus) in the past, and we went there yesterday ... but she didn't see them there either.
So, we made our own. You cream together 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, softened, with 3 oz. of cream cheese (I may use 4 oz. next time... just because 3 oz. is such an arbitrary number, when 4 oz. would be exactly half of the package). After they are creamed together, add in 1 cup of flour, a little at a time, until just blended. Then roll that into a ball and put saran wrap around it, and put the dough into the refrigerator for as little as an hour, and for as much as 24 hours.
After you wait an hour, you can bring the dough out of the fridge, and divide it into half. One half will make 12 mini muffin-sized tart shells. Take one half, and divide IT into half. Then divide each of those halves into quarters. Then divide each of those quarters into three balls of equal size, and press each ball into and up the edges of a mini muffin tin. If you have two mini-muffin tins, you can use the other half to make 12 more tart shells ... for a total of 24 shells.
Bake the shells for 20 minutes at 325 degrees, until slightly brown at the edges. Let the shells cool before putting any kind of filling into it. We put Lemon Curd (Downton Abbey, found at World Market) in ours, then topped that with Cool Whip, then put two blueberries on top. I read that other people put a chocolate flavored mousse filling in, with whipped cream and then a strawberry on top, or raspberries.
These are a great little party-type dessert to make that looks wonderful, but doesn't take a lot of time. You could even make the little shells way ahead of time and freeze them -- then thaw them when you want to fill them. I read about other people who doubled this tart recipe and used the dough to make pumpkin, blueberry, or any other kind of full-size pie. The crust is THAT GOOD!
