Berry Tart with Walnut Crust

If you have never visited the Eating Well website you must do it soon!  It has a ton of healthy recipes that are really tasty and fresh.  I also love how it gives nutritional facts on each recipe and has a lot of other great info on the main page.  My friend Lauren had us over for a dinner party on Thursday and I brought this for desert.  She made the most amazing lasagna for us that I'm going to make from her recipe on Sunday.

This recipe is really light and a great way to use those fresh strawberries that are in season right now!  The original recipe calls for blueberries, but I know not everyone is a fan, Corey included, so I decided to go half strawberries.

oh you weren't aware that it was the forth of july???

Crust

1/2 cup walnuts, lightly toasted (I didn't toast them in the interest of time and it still tasted great!)

1 cup graham cracker crumbs, preferably whole-wheat

1 large egg white

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

Pinch of salt

Filling

8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese (Neufchâtel), softened

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup (we use sugar free now and you can't even taste a difference)

2 cups fresh berries (strawberries & blueberries)

Preparation

To prepare crust: Preheat oven to 325°F.

Coarsely chop walnuts in a food processor. Add graham cracker crumbs and process until the mixture looks like fine crumbs.

Whisk egg white in a medium bowl until frothy. Add the crumb mixture, butter, oil and salt; toss to combine. Press the mixture into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan. Set the pan on a baking sheet. Bake until dry and slightly darker around the edges, about 8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

To prepare filling: Beat cream cheese, sour cream and 1/4 cup maple syrup in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth. When the crust is cool, spread the filling evenly into it, being careful not to break up the delicate crust. Arrange blueberries on the filling, pressing lightly so they set in. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons maple syrup over the berries. Chill for at least 1 hour to firm up.