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Sweet Recycling

I guess I owe this to my upbringing but I am known in my family as the Queen of Recycling. At the restaurant, the executive chef and the owners loved me for that: failed cheesecake? No problem, we’ll have cheesecake mousse in parfaits glasses! Leftover pastry cream? No problem, we’ll have Bavarois! Dry chocolate cake? I’ll pulverize it and use the crumbs for crusts, decorative crumbs or something…Hey! I could even use it in those parfaits glasses to layer my mousse with! You get the picture. Mind you, not everything got recycled, in spite of my best effort.

I was reorganizing the pastry/baking drawer of my freezer the other day when I found some Sour Cream Pastry Dough that needed to be used by the end of the month. I had made a cheesecake for a friend during the week and had some leftover filling. I was also staring at a half jar of Blueberyy Tea Jelly which color looked like a gem stone in the sun. I had a vessel, a filling and a crown! I had been craving small bites to go along my tea or my coffee in the afternoon so I decided to make tinsy mini tartlets using my min muffin tins.

Sweet Cheese Tartlets with Blueberry Tea Jelly Crowns.

Sour Cream Pastry, adapted from Flo Braker’s Sweet Miniatures.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
8 oz. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup sour cream

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry knife or your fingers until you get pea sized crumbs.Add the sour cream and blend in quickly into a ball. Don’t over work the dough or it will be too elastic. Divide in half, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Cream Cheese Filling
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

In a bowl, blend the cream cheese and sugar. Add the egg and lemon zest. Blend well. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut 3 inch circles. Fit them into the cavities of the mini muffin tin and divide the cream cheese filling evenly among them. Bake at 350, for 10-15 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the Glaze:
Melt 1/2 cup of your favorite jelly. I used Blueberyy Tea that I made over the summer. Divide evenly on top of the tartlets and refrigerate until set.

Make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and pop a few into your mouth!

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Comments


Anonymous October 21, 2006 um 2:46 am

Gorgeous! And bravo for trying to recycle cooking leftovers – I try and do the same, but nowhere near as successfully as this!


Bron October 21, 2006 um 2:56 am

Yum, I’ll eat your leftovers any day!


Fiber October 21, 2006 um 3:21 am

This looks awesome, and I love the pic!
Great job!


Mercotte October 21, 2006 um 6:07 am

Moi aussi j’adore recycler, tes tartelettes sont trop…j’aime beaucoup la dernière photo !


Lis October 21, 2006 um 7:02 am

I love how you recycle! And you’ve given me great ideas on how I can start to recycle myself!

Now.. here’s what I’m thinking.. if you were to find a medium sized box with some bubble wrap, you could fill the box with these tarts, the pumpkin cakes and the gorgeous meringues and send them to me today, okay? Please?? I’m soooooo drooling over here 😀


Sophie François October 21, 2006 um 7:47 am

Great idea. This tartelettes are so cute.


Fabienne October 21, 2006 um 10:01 am

Mais c’est trop top ton recyclage, je vais de te dire mais continue àrecycler !!!!


Anonymous October 21, 2006 um 6:16 pm

I recycle like crazy too. I even make suggestions if for if their dessert didn’t turn out what they could do with it….so you are not alone 🙂


Anonymous October 22, 2006 um 3:47 pm

Helene, you are the queen of recycling… these tartlets look delicious! I’ll have to start using some of your ideas instead of making stuff from scratch.


Anonymous October 23, 2006 um 12:51 am

You are the recycling queen for real!

They’re so cute!


Jen October 23, 2006 um 11:40 am

All hail queen leftover!
It’s great that nothing goes to waste and you can’t even tell they are from leftovers : )


Helene October 23, 2006 um 12:39 pm

Ellie: sometimes it works, sometimes there’s nothing I can do! It just "erks" me to throw away.

Bron: if only you did not leave that far away!

Fiber: thanks for visiting.

Mercotte: il a fallu manger 4 tartelettes pour avoir la bonne photo! Les sacrifices qu’on fait pour blogger!

Lis: email me your address!

Sophie: merci.

Fabienne: merci. J’espere pouvoir faire ta connaissance a Noel.

Peabody: I know what you mean. If it is totally ruined, there is always a way to fix things.

Bino: thanks for stopping by.

Bruno: thank you for the compliment. I always try to make double batch of batters or doughs and freeze them if I can because it helps the impromptu dinner party or gathering.

Yvonne: thank you dear. They went down too easily!

JenJen: they were quite tasty indeed!


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