Treasures Matey

When I was younger, my mom used to do a old "camp song" on my brother and I which involved tracing up and down our back:

We're going on a treasure hunt
X- marks the spot
With a Dash-Dash-Dash
and a Dot-Dot-Dot
Up the river
Down the river
All around the river

And this is really a very long introduction to a treasure I found in the supermarket. They were these little premade shortbread tarts. Mini guys, just begging to be filled with custard or fruit. Although after I made the banana cupcakes last week my coworker informed me that he really liked pumpkin pie and cheesecake. Which meant these puppies were going to be filled with cheesecake.

Since the "crust" was already prepared, I didn't want to cook them so I went for a no-bake recipe. Which is basically just cream cheese and sugar blended together. Except I had some other treasure to use up too. And this treasure was a golden treasure (like real pirates have) - Trader Joe's Lemon Curd. I love this stuff. And I decided to use it instead of sugar - all the sweetness but without having to worry about making sure the sugar was fully beaten into the whip cream. For some added fluffyness since these were going straight into the fridge, I took a trick from icebox pies/cakes and used cool whip to aerate. You can top these with whatever you like, I ended up with kiwi jam and kiwi, which kind of gave them a key lime pie feel once combined with the lemon curd. This is probably about as Sandra Lee as I get!

Cheater Mini-Cheesecakes
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup lemon curd
1 cup cool whip
mini-shortbread tarts

1. Place cream cheese in electric mixer and mix until smooth.
2. Add lemon curd and mix thoroughly.
3. Fold in cool whip.
4. Divide this mixture between the mini-shortbread tarts.
5. Garnish with whatever fruit you like!