Lemon Cheesecake Cream Cups With Blackberries and Cashew Cookie Knobs

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

4 ounces cream cheese,
softened
6 ounces lemon curd (I like the
Trader Joe’s brand)
1 heaping C Cool Whip thawed
18-20 frozen whole blackberries,
thawed, juice reserved
1 17.5 ounce Betty Crocker sugar
cookie mix
½ C butter, soft
1 egg
1 T half and half
12 cashew halves
½ C (amount after grounding)
salted cashes, ground to a very,
very coarse blend
Powdered sugar for garnish
Can top with candied lemons if preferred and another dollop of Cool Whip

Direction:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Empty packet of sugar cookie mix into a bowl. Add 1 egg, the ½ C butter, the crushed cashews, and the half and half. Blend well. Using a teaspoon, scoop out and form with your hand a ball about 1 inch diameter, or about 20% smaller than the inside cup size of a mini muffin tin. (I use a 12 cup mini muffin tin.) Press one cashew half into the center of each cookie. No need to grease. Cook for 10 minutes or until you see a bit of browning on the side and the middle is slightly cracked…just like it would look if it were a flat cookie. Let cool, remove, set aside.
• Place the cream cheese and curd in another mixing bowl and blend with a whisk. Then add the thawed Cool Whip and blend in gently with a spatula. Divide evenly among either the 4 or 6 ramekin/custard cups. (It depends on how much you want to serve your guests. I found that dividing it 6 ways still made a generous dessert. This is rich, rich stuff!) Now, press three thawed blackberries (or raspberries) in the cream. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.
• To plate, put a dollop of Cool Whip off to the side of the inside of the custard dish (offsetting the whipped cream lets those pretty blackberries shine through!) drizzle all with a bit of the blackberry juice. Place two cookie knobs on the saucer next to the custard dish, and sprinkle some confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar as you may call it) over all and serve immediately.