Blueberry Tartlets with Walnut Crust

Featured Ingredient: Walnuts

There are a lot of reasons to go nuts in the kitchen with walnuts. Walnuts are proof that nature love us: They’re packed with fibre, zinc, copper, magnesium, folate, vitamin B6 and no other nut has more of those much hyped omega-3 fatty acids. Harvard scientists found diets rich in walnuts can significantly reduce cholesterol levels. Daily consumption of nutrient-dense walnuts may improve the health of blood vessels, thereby decreasing the risk of heart disease, says scientists from Yale.

There is a walnut tree outside my home office window, but I have never really got around to doing anything with them. We just hope they don’t put a dent in our neighbour’s new car as they fall.

Walnuts give the crust in this tart (slash) cheesecake recipe a wonderful nutty flavor. If you are concerned about fat calories, try low-fat cream cheese. You could also use other berries for the topping.

Blueberry Tartlets with Walnut Crust

Adapted from Eating Well

Crust

1/2 cup walnuts

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 large egg white

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Pinch of salt

Topping

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/4 cup pure maple syrup, preferably B or C grade for more flavour

1 cup fresh or frozen (thawed) blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coarsely chop walnuts in a food processor or Vita-Mix. Add graham cracker crumbs and process until the mixture looks like fine crumbs. Whisk egg white in a bowl until frothy. Add the crumb mixture, butter, oil and salt; toss to combine until everything is moist. Press the mixture into the bottom of 9-10 medium greased or papper lined muffin cups.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the crust begins to darken. Cool before applying topping.

To prepare the topping: Beat cream cheese, sour cream and maple syrup in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Top walnut crust with cream cheese topping. Before unmolding, chill for at least a couple hours to firm up. Carefully unmold tartlets and top each with blueberries.

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