Tassies are a southern Christmas treasure, normally taking center stage on the cookie tray. These cookies taste like a bite-sized morsel of pecan pie, with a golden brown crust and lots of chopped pecans in a gooey filling – yummy and addicting

Pecan Tassies

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Pastry:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

Filling:

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups lightly toasted pecans, coarsely chopped, divided

Tip: See Toasting Nuts and Seeds. Use standard measuring cups and spoons or scales for accurate measuring.

Directions:

Cream Cheese Pastry:

1. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, add butter and cream cheese; mix together on medium speed until smooth and thoroughly blended. Use a rubber spatula to scrap down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the flour and salt, mixing just until combined.
   
   
2. Divide pastry in half; pat each half into a 6 inch disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.
   
   
3. Remove one of the chilled pastries from the refrigerator and divide into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place in an ungreased mini muffin pan. Press the pastry against the bottom and up the sides of each cup to form the shell. Return the filled muffin pan to the refrigerator until ready to add the filling. Tip: Using two 24-cup, or four 12-cup mini muffin pans is ideal. If you have only one pan, keep the extra pastry and filling in the refrigerator until ready to use.
   
   
4. Remove remaining pastry from refrigerator, and repeat.
   
   
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
   
   Filling:
6. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Use a wire whisk and whisk together just until smooth. Tip: Do not over-mix, and do not use an electric mixer as this will create too many air bubbles in the filling.
   
   
7. Remove the pastry filled muffin pans from the refrigerator. Distribute 1 cup of the pecans among the pastry-lined muffin cups, sprinkling a few pecan pieces in the bottom of each cup.
   
   
8. Pour the filling over the pecans in each cup, filling only about two-thirds full. Don’t over-fill as the filling puffs up while baking. Tip: to make filling the cups less messy, use a liquid measuring cup with a spout to pour the filling.
   
   
9. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of pecans on top of the filling in each cup.
   
   Bake:
   
10. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown around the edges. Rotate the pans from front to back toward the end of the baking time so the Tassies brown evenly. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Run the tip of a small sharp paring knife around the edges of the muffin cups to loosen the Tassies. When Tassies are cool enough to handle remove from the muffin pan and place on wire cooling racks to let cool.
    
    Makes 4 dozen Tassies
    
    TheBakingPan.com
    
    Adapted From:
    Walden, Hilaire, The Great Big Cookie Book, Hermes House, London, 2008,
    
    Walter, Carole, Great Cookies, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2003
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