I had found a recipe for a butter crust that sounded good and wanted to add a home made filling. It needed to be simple because there were errands to run, so it was best not to be tied down to something that would take too much time.

The recipe for the butter crust.

Two cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cold salted butter
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Cut butter into flour until you have coarse crumbs. Add water, mix with fork, then roll out. Cherry juice from a jar of cherries sounded better than plain water. After mixing in 7 tablespoons of juice, the dough was not moist or sticking together. It took 5 tablespoons more (of water) to get the dough right, mixed in one by one. Divide dough in half and roll out.

Rolling out the dough was simple, and the cherry juice made a nice pattern. Press out twelve 3 inch circles and place in mini muffin pan. Recipe makes 24.

Filling

Filling was easy and used staples on hand.

Eight ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup dark chocolate mini morsels.

Mix well and spoon into dough cups, filling to 2/3 full.

Top with a cherry and push halfway into filling. Preheat the toaster oven to 325 and bake for 14-18 minutes until golden brown. Save any leftover dough and filling to make extras.

These were so delicious served warm and tasted very rich. Real butter crust made such a difference as well as the dark chocolate. I’ll measure my hips later.

To be more specific, dark chocolate that contains more than 70% pure cocoa is good for you.

When I saw the word “chocolate” used in the same sentence as the phrase “good for you”, however, that was good enough for me. The world became a brighter place. Life made more sense.

I and women all over the world were suddenly vindicated. We had been saying all along that chocolate should have its rightful place in the food pyramid.

Chocolate contains flavonoids; healthy substances that are good for the heart. (We always knew that chocolate was good for a broken heart, didn’t we, girls?)

I realize that it’s still not good to overindulge in chocolate, and that sugar-laden milk chocolate candy bars won’t ever pass for health food. That doesn’t take away from my happiness, though.

Real, pure, unadulterated chocolate is good for me. It’s good for me! Here I go getting all verklempt again.

Heart and Body-Healthy Baked Pears with Chocolate

2 medium-sized pears, whichever kind you like
½ cup unsweetened orange juice
½ cup chopped walnuts
1/8 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the pears lengthwise into quarters. Remove any seeds and stems. Place the pear quarters into a small baking dish and pour the orange juice over them. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over them and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the pears are soft but not mushy. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle the chocolate chips over them. The chips will melt just enough.

Serves two, but if you want to eat the whole thing, it would still be low fat/low calorie!

Note: If you’d rather use another kind of chopped nut, go right ahead! All nuts are good for you. And if you want the chocolate to be a little more uniform on the pears, you can always grind the chips a bit in your food processor for more even sprinkling.