Pomegranate and pineapple tartlets

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above.

So thank the Lord, O thank the Lord, for all His love.

The Lord blessed our new year eve with a nice gathering of friends. We threw a small party and invited some good friends in the neighborhood. At first we were not sure if anyone would show up. The day before new year eve, we learnt that most of those invited would be coming. That really excited us. So I found myself busying for two whole days preparing food for a party of seven. As a treat for myself, I made some fruit tartlets. The tastes of pomegranate and pineapple go very well together as a combination of fruity sweetness, with just a juicy blend of acidity. So I made a cream that is rich and mildly sour to go with the fruity toppings.


Recipe: Pomegranate and pineapple tartlets (make 12)


Ingredients:
- 5 oz flaky pie dough (about 1/8 portion size of using Julia Child's recipe)
- 3 TB low-fat cream cheese
- 3 TB heavy whipping cream
- 1 TB white sugar
- 3 TB fresh pomegranate seeds
- 3 TB fresh pineapple, cut to 1/2" pieces


Procedure:
1. Roll out the flaky pie dough to about 1/4" thick and line the holes of a mini-muffin pan that has been greased and dusted with flour. Bake in oven at 350F for 5-10 minutes. Once the aroma of pastry diffuses into the air, it's done. Remove tartlet crust from pan, and let cool on a cookie rack. Set aside at room temperature for use. The tartlet crust will remain very crispy for several hours. 
1. Soften cream cheese by stirring with a fork until it becomes a paste. Add whipping cream and sugar. Mix and stir vigorously to form a smooth paste. The paste will have a sweet but slightly sour feel.
2. Fill the tartlet crust with the creamy paste. Then top with pineapple and pomegranate seeds. Serve right away. 

In another experiment, I decided to use heavy whipping cream alone as the cream filling. That's quite an experience. Since I was beating less than one cup of cream, the electric beater became really clumsy. So I resorted to hand beating with a fork. It was really quite a bit of work. But I really liked the result. There's something about seeing the cream form that made the whipped cream feel so tasty in the mouth. With hand and fork, it took me more than 10 minutes to get the foam started. Then I changed to a bigger bowl for more vigorous beating. The cream thickened slowly, and then progressively faster. Then all of a sudden, it became really firm. That's the moment of exuberant joy, and relief to my arm.