Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookie Tarts

These are so good.  And pretty.  But mostly let's focus on how good they are.  I took these for dessert when Dave and I went to dinner at his parent's house and they were a big hit.  My father-in-law actually couldn't eat the second one for a few minutes because he "just needed to savor that for a little while."  Yup, they're good.  The cookie dough is sweet and the strawberry cream cheese has a sweet but light flavor.  Top it all with a fresh strawberry and it's the perfect spring treat.  These would be great for a bake sale, Easter dessert, or a baby shower. (Do they make blueberry cream cheese?  Because that would be cute with blueberry's for garnish and then you can cover both sexes.)

I found this recipe on the Better Crocker website.  I thought I was going to make cheesecake but then realized I didn't have enough time.  So I had to think fast and find something using ingredients I already had in the house.  It almost worked.  I thought I could do this with regular cream cheese and flavor it (either vanilla or orange).  Turns out you really do need the whipped flavored cream cheese to get the consistency you want.  I suppose if I had whipped the regular brick of cream cheese first it might have worked out.  But alas, I ended up sending Dave to the grocery store (again).  The price he has to pay to get yummy treats.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Cookie Tarts

Ingredients

1 pouch Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1 stick of butter, softened (as called for on cookie mix)
1 egg (as called for on cookie mix)
1 8-ounce container strawberry cream cheese spread (pretend the brick in the picture is a tub of strawberry cream cheese)
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon milk
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, washed and sliced

Make cookie dough as directed on package (mix together cookie mix, butter and egg until a soft dough forms.)

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place in a greased mini muffin tin. 

Press each ball into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin cup.  I used my handy tool (the mini tart shaper from Pampered Chef), but a slim shot glass may also work.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until edges are brown.  Remove from oven. 

My cups started to puff up, so I pressed them down again (while still warm in the pan), indenting the "cup" shape with my tart shaper.

Cool slightly and then remove from pan and cool completely on wire racks.  Repeat with remaining dough (the original recipe says this makes 32 cups, but I got 40; my mini muffin tin only has 24 cups).

While cups are cooling, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk in a medium bowl.

Mix with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. 

Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.  Pipe cream cheese mixture into each cup.

Garnish with fresh sliced strawberries.  Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Makes 32-40 cookie tarts.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess