Almond pastry: 1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons finely chopped almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
1 Dash salt
Maraschino cheesecake tarts: 1 package lowfat cream cheese — softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup drained chopped cherries — fresh or frozen
Apricot preserves
Almond pastry for tarts: mix together flour, chopped almonds, sugar, and salt. Cut butter into mixture until texture resembles coarse crumbs. Tarts: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press 1 tablespoon almond pastry into 2 1/2 inch tart pans. Prick pastry with fork. Bake 5-10 minutes until lightly browned. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg, lemon juice, lemon peel and almond extract and blend well. Spoon 1 teaspoon cherries over pastry. Pour cream cheese mixture over cherries. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake 12-15 minutes or until cream cheese layer is set. Cool completely before removing from tart pans. Top each tart with warmed apricot preserves.