Cranberry Cheesecake Tarts

It's time to deal with the leftovers from Thanksgiving.  And by now you're probably up to your ears or mouths with ideas and recipes for all the leftover turkey.

You probably have leftover cranberry sauce as well.  While it's great layered on a turkey sandwich, you can also use it for a dessert.
Yup, dessert.

 I actually make extra cranberry sauce just so I can make these little tarts.  I also make sure I've got 'leftover' pie crust as well.

I was a Girl Guide in an earlier incarnation and our motto was 'Be Prepared', and in my case that means being prepared to deal with leftovers.

And true confessions time here, I sometimes would rather eat the leftovers from T'day because I can such fun with them.

Without further ado, and no drum riff, here's how I turn leftover Cranberry Sauce into a delicious and different dessert.

First off, this is best with either your own homemade cranberry sauce or whole berry sauce in the can.

Cranberry Cheesecake Tarts

Yield: 1 dozen small tarts

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

prep time: 10 Mcook time: 25 Mtotal time: 35 M

This is a great way to use up leftover Cranberry Sauce if you have any leftover after Thanksgiving or Christmas.

ingredients:

Cranberry topping

• 1 cup Boozy Cranberry Sauce 
• 1/2 cup Sugar- to taste, add more if desired.

Pie crust

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 lb. Butter
• 2-4 tablespoons ice water (Use more if needed)

Cheese Cake Filling

• 2 packages Cream Cheese, room temp 16 oz. total
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon Homemade Lemon Extract
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier

instructions:

How to cook Cranberry Cheesecake Tarts

Cranberry Sauce

1. Heat the sauce up a little and add the sugar, stir until dissolved. Set aside to cool, while you make the pastry dough and the filling.

Pie Crust

1. Rub or cut the butter into the flour, until the butter is the size of small peas. Then add the water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and form into a ball. You do not want to work this very much. Divide the ball into two pieces and let it rest for about 40 minutes. (I say that cause that's how long I let it rest).
2. Roll out and cut your tart shapes. Set aside for a couple of minutes while you get the filling together.

Cheesecake Filling

1. Add all the ingredients together in the Kitchen Aid mixer and mix until the mixture is nice and smooth.
2. Using a scoop (I used my smallest ice cream scoop here), scoop some of the filling into each of the tarts, the filling will poof up a little, so don't fill to the top. Add just a little spoonful of the Cranberry sauce to the top.
3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until the filling is set and the pastry is done.

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