Crawfish Pie Tarts

I had to prepare something for a baby shower with a Louisiana theme for our dear friend Meghann Vliet who was engaged to marry. I came up with these and they were quite good. It is really nothing more than a savory tart recipe combined with my crawfish ettoufee recipe. 

Tart Shells 

 2 cups all purpose flour 

2 sticks of butter softened 

6 oz. of cream cheese 

Cream butter and cream cheese in mixer on low (or mix by hand until creamy). Add flour and mix until a fairly smooth mixture occurs. Pour mix out of bowl and gather together into a ball. Next, you will form the tarts.

 I used a 24-count mini-muffin pan. Put about a teaspoon of mix in each compartment and press down until it is thin and covers the bottom and sides of the indentation (actually, I used a handy tool by pampered chef that pushed the tart to the right size -- but you can easily do this by hand). Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes until brown. 

 Remove from oven and let them cool. Next, fill with crawfish ettouffee - recipe on my blog. You can also fill with any savory item you want -- crabmeat au gratin, spinach and artichokes dip, or a quiche mixture, etc.

Easy Strawberry Shortcake

Yes, we live right by the Strawberry Capital of the World -- Ponchatoula, LA. Strawberries are really cheap now -- about $10 a flat (which is 12 pints of berries). We love strawberry shortcake this time of year. However, we do not make it the traditional way -- which is a sweet biscuit. No, my family always made our shortcake with a plain old Betty Crocker yellow cake mix. It really is the best way. So, here is our process. 

 1 yellow cake mix (any brand), eggs, oil and water 

2 pints strawberries 

1/2 - 2/3 cup sugar whipped topping 

 Mix the yellow cake mix according to box directions and bake in a 9X12 pan. Prepare strawberries about an hour or two before serving. After cleaning and stemming the berries, cut them into slices. About two pints will be plenty for this size cake. Mix sliced berries with sugar. Allow strawberries to stand with sugar mixture for about an hour or so until they macerate (release their liquids). Cut cake into serving sized pieces. Top with berry mixture and whipped topping. It is delicious and easy.