Flashback Friday: Blackberry Bites

Flashback to 2009...had a half pint of blackberries and just seemed a shame to just eat them in the 35 seconds it would take to scarf them down...how to stretch them?  I came up with these and have since adapted it to using 'emergency' sugar cookie dough, strawberries with white chocolate, blueberries with apricot jelly, oh so many ways to eat good food... Here's the original.

Blackberries are so good.

But what to do with that tiny half pint container they sell at the grocery store? Gotta make the most of it.

1 stick butter, soft but not mushy
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 c flour
zest of one lemon
1 tsp vanilla
1 package cream cheese
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 pint blackberries, washed and dried
1/4 cup marmalade or any jelly (not jam)

Cream butter and normal sugar. When fluffy add egg, zest and vanilla. Add flour and make a dough. Cut a piece of parchment to fit your cookie sheet, place dough on it and press out or roll to 1/4" thick. Cut into cookie squares with a knife. If you don't have parchment or a Silpat mat just do it on a floured counter and place on buttered sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 min or till golden. Pull the whole parchment sheet off onto a rack and let cool.  Peel the cookies off later.

Meanwhile beat up the cream cheese and blend in the powdered sugar and almond extract. Set aside but don't refrigerate. If you have a lot of lemon zest it would be good here too! Can't have too much lemon zest.

Now warm the marmalade gently to liquify. Lick the spoon.  Don't burn your tongue.

Spread the cream cheese on each cookie and place three blackberries on top, like three yummy little mountains. Paint each berry with a dab of marmalade. Allow to cool and firm up. Ready to go! Store in the fridge if not serving shortly.  Take to a party and your friends will ask what bakery you got them from!  Oh so good... and speaking of substitutions, I even once used vanilla wafers as the base cookie when I needed a dessert in 5 minutes.  Buon Appetito!