Mini Raspberry Tarts

We hadn't had a potluck at work for several months, and since I was soon going to be out of the office (becauseOMG
Ihaveababynow), we decided to have one, just for fun, a few weeks ago.

I had seen this recipe in a magazine and knew I wanted to try it. Coincidentally, I found it in the middle of my husband's yearly obsession with raspberries, so the timing was right and I deemed the potluck a good occasion to try them.

I was afraid to make the tarts too thin, and I only made 24 instead of 36 ... they puffed up quite a bit in the oven and were not too thin at all, so my initial fear was unfounded, but luckily they collapsed in the middle nicely so that I could still fill them with the cream cheese mix. I didn't have orange zest, either, so I substituted a few drops of orange flavoring.

These taste amazing - EVERYONE was asking me about them and telling me how much they liked them. I think they look a lot more complicated than they actually are, so if you want to impress people with appearance and taste, this is a good way to go. I was fine with just having 24 of them, and I had a good amount of filling and didn't have to worry about breaking the sugar cookie dough in to the 36 parts. And this way I could bake both of my mini-muffin tins at the same time and not have to do a second round in the oven :)

Ingredients

1 (16.5-ounce) package refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 (8-ounce) package 1/3-less fat block-style cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
32 fresh raspberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a mini-muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Divide sugar cookie dough into 32 pieces. Coat hands in flour, and roll pieces into balls. Press each ball into tin, forming dough up and around into the shape of a tart.


Bake for 11–12 minutes or until golden. Let cool 10 minutes in pan.

Remove tarts, and cool completely on a wire rack. Using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla. Spoon cream cheese mixture into each tart.


Top each with a fresh raspberry. Chill until ready to serve.

Source: Health magazine