Monday, March 12, 2012

Minnesota Sunset & Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

As a mother of three, I try really hard to have individual time with each of my kids.  I love to spend time with them and listen to them tell me about their day, share stories and their hopes and dreams.  Last night I was driving my 10 year-old son home from his pitching clinic and we were having the best conversation.  In that moment, I was so proud to be his mom and so proud of what a great kid he is turning into.  He was in the middle of a sentence when he stopped and said, "Mom look at the sky."  I looked to where he was pointing and the sky was pink!  It was not a pale pink, it was bright pink!  "As soon as we get home you need to take a picture of that," he said.  We continued to visit and watch the sky until we got home.  I took the picture that is posted below and you will see the most spectacular showing of creativity known to man.
The sky sort of reminded me of a painting that my 4 year-old had brought home recently. He had painted almost every inch of a piece of paper in blue, pink, orange, yellow and purple, and I remember thinking, this reminds me of a sunset.  You will see from the photo of the sky below how magnificent the colors are.  Our creator took those colors from his palette and splashed them into the sky for all of us to see.  It was an amazing site and the pictures don't do it justice.  I am always in awe of my surroundings and try to find the beauty in the world.  If you are surrounded by nature you shouldn't have to look very far.

This is my son's painting:



On to the delicious stuff......dessert, yum!  Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts is a simple and easy dessert that I created myself.  There are a few ways to put this together.  You can either make 6 tarts in a cupcake pan & one mini pie, two mini pies or one large pie.  The ingredients you will need are as follows:
1 box of refrigerated pie crust (I use Pillsbury in the red box) leave on counter for 10 to 15 minutes before use
1 21 oz can of blueberry pie filling (2 cans if you are doing one large pie)
1 8oz brick of cream cheese softened
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla

I will tell you, I absolutely love to bake but I don't have all of the fancy gadgets that some people have so it's called improvising.  To make my tarts I used the Pampered Chef crust cutter (3 1/2 inch) because it's round like a biscuit cutter and cut 12 rounds out of the crust. (I can hear a few people laughing at me already) 
I placed 6 rounds in the cupcake pan then put a tablespoon or more of the blueberry pie filling in each one.  (It's not an exact science)
Then, in a bowl I mixed the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a hand mixer until smooth.  I then placed a tablespoon or so of the cream cheese mixture over the blueberry pie filling in each tart.  Next, I placed another round of crust over the top of each tart, folding it a bit so it looked more rustic and sprinkled each one with a few drops of water then sugar.  I did cut a hole in the top of each tart as well.  I baked these at 425 for 15 to 20 minutes.  And here is the result:


Why are there only four tarts in the picture you ask?  Because my children had already eaten two of them by the time I got the camera out!  They are delicious.  You could serve with a scoop of ice cream.

I used the leftover ingredients from making the tarts to make one mini pie.  Bake the pie at 425 for 15 minutes then cover edges with aluminum foil then bake another 20 to 25 minutes longer.
This dessert is so delicious and creamy.  A large pie is simpler.  Just lay one crust in a 9 inch pie plate, dump two cans of blueberry pie filling on it, dump the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla mixture on top, place the second pie crust on it, cut slits in the top, sprinkle with water and sugar.  Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then cover edges with aluminum foil, then bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Gorgeous sunset picture!!! You need to blow that up and frame the crap out of it. As for the tarts...I may just need to make those.

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    1. Thanks! I'm trying to learn to be a better photographer! You still haven't sent me the link to your blog. :)

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