Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

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1 pkg (8 oz. ; 250 g) Cream cheese (light), softened to room temperature
1 container (1 L) Whipped topping (light), thawed in fridge
1/2 c. Sugar
24 Tart shells (frozen or homemade)
2-3 c. Wild blueberries

Several hours before tart assembly, wash the blueberries, lightly pat dry with paper towel and then air-dry as much as possible.

Bake tart shells as instructed on the box or your recipe until the edges are slightly brown. Set aside and allow to cool.

Using an electric beater, cream together the cream cheese and sugar.

Beat in the whipped topping until just blended.

To assemble the tarts, you have 2 options:
  1. Fold the washed blueberries into the cream cheese filling and divide them into the tart shells.
  2. Cover the bottom of the tart with berries.  Drop a large spoonful of cream cheese filling on the blueberries.  Place more blueberries on top of the filling.  (This works best with wild blueberries because they are smaller.)
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My comments:

When I saw the wild blueberries at a local farmer's market a few weeks ago, I knew I had to have them.  But they were too expensive to justify a random, spontaneous purchase.  Then I had the brilliant idea to serve them at my son's birthday party.  Remember this delicious concoction I did awhile ago? I thought the fresh wild blueberries would go perfectly with that light, fluffy and yet creamy filling.

These blueberry tarts were delicious.  I whipped up the creamy filling the night before and prepared the blueberries and the tart shells the morning of the party.  It took 2 pairs of hands to finish 24 tarts in only 5 min.  This dessert works really well when you have limited space in the fridge because the only thing that needed to be kept cool was the filling.  Furthermore, not chilling the tart shells after they have been baked kept the shells from turning soft.

What I love about wild blueberries is that they are sweet and flavourful, unlike those steroid blueberries you find at the grocery stores.  I could have done this with the steroid blueberries but trust me, if you can get your hands on the wild stuff, do it.  It's worth every penny.

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I came across this blueberry tart with icewine glaze last week while planning the menu for the birthday party. The glaze looked easy enough to do and I was tempted. But I realized it would've been over-ambitious to do the glaze with everything else going on. Maybe next time I'll actually try the ricotta cheese filling and introduce another variation of cheese filling dessert into my repertoire. :)

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