Weekend Happenings

This weekend the storm clouds rolled in and we got the rain (with sound effects!) that was expected, making for very happy flowers, vegetable gardens and lawns.  Some folks around the country are suffering with too much rain and with flooding; but in upstate New York we've got a drought and any little bit of relief is very welcome! Hubby and I got a break from our almost daily rounds of watering our community garden parcel, church flowers, and our own gardens.  I was able to make the cream cheese pastries, one of my mom's recipes, and I made a trip to the garden center.

Three plants caught my eye over at the garden center.  The middle plant is a native perennial called Upland Ironweed and grows 3-5 feet tall.  It's a late blooming plant that has purple flowers.  I'll put it in a sunny spot at the back of the garden, since it will grow tall.

The two daylilies are rebloomers.  One's called Sunday Gloves and is almost pure white; the other is Barbara Mitchell, a soft pink color.  I've decided to only buy rebloomers to have more color from the plants throughout the season.

An all-white phlox is flowering in the perennial path.  I've never planted all white, so it must have grown from a seed that was deposited there.

Finally, this weekend I had a chance to make the Cream Cheese Pastry Tarts with blueberry filling from the last of the berries picked from our little patch of bushes.

It's a recipe that's more than 50 years old.  Mom filled them with mincemeat, but any thickened fruit filling works, or jam. Dainty tarts with a rich and flaky crust.  I made extra filling to serve with the baked tarts, since there isn't much inside. You could make them larger with more filling.

Cream Cheese Pastry:

Filling:

3 cups blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch for thickening
1/4 cup water

Cook ingredients in a saucepan until thick and bubbly.  Cool.

Crust:

1 cup butter softened at room temperature
8 oz. package cream cheese softened at room temperature
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and cream cheese, add sifted dry ingredients.  Chill dough 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Divide dough into 4 equal parts; work with 1/4 of dough at a time.  Refrigerate remaining dough.

Roll dough very thin on lightly floured surface.  Cut into 2" squares.  Put 1 teapoon filling on half of the squares and top with remaining squares.  Press edges together with floured tines of a fork.  Brush with milk.

Bake on a cookie sheet 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned.  When completely cooled, sprinkle tops with confectioners' sugar.   Makes about 5 dozen.  There will be extra filling to serve with the tarts.