When Life Gives You...

...a dessert disaster, just invent a new one! From the wreckage of a tart crust that broke into a billion pieces was born something I'm calling Upside Down Berry Cheesecake. The sugar cookie tart crust was still delicious, just incapable of containing fresh berries and glaze properly. I looked dejectedly at my shattered crust and nibbled on a shard or two. Hmmm. Then sprung into creative mode and pulled out several individual size containers. Then I stared at them for a while. Not entirely certain what the end product would be, I divided up the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries into the dishes. Then set about cooking up my standard glaze of water, cornstarch, sugar and raspberry jello and pouring it over the fruit. While these were cooling in the fridge, I whisked together equal parts cream cheese and whipping cream sweetened with just a little powdered sugar. The cream cheesy topping went into a pastry bag equipped with my largest star tip. When dessert time arrived, I assembled my genius concoction. On top of the fresh berries and glaze went the cookie shards, then piped on top of those was the cream cheesy topping. I was pretty sure it was going to be great, but for only the second time in my long dessert creating history did everyone around the table fall silent as they savored the luscious combination of sweet-tart berries, crispy light cookie bits and decadently rich topping. Once in a while, a bit fat flop works out.