Aunt Rita’s Pecan Tassies
If you don't know exactly what a pecan tassie is, you've probably seen a plateful at a holiday gathering. Pecan tassies are a favorite at my house, thanks to my Aunt Rita, but they're an American original.
Aunt Rita's Cookies
This special cookie gets a free pass because we all know its true identity is the tiniest of pies and with all things tiny, they are guilt-free. When you see a huge tray of these at our family gatherings, you know that Aunt Rita is in the house. She tried to change it up one year, showing up with lemon squares. But with enough pressure from the family, she was back making the pecan cups AND the lemon squares.
Pecan Tassie Origins
It's unclear what the origins of these cookies are, but we know they're American—pecans are native to the new world. It's thought that these cookies are an interpretation of the pecan pie as we know it (c. 1931), but, other than a recipe printed in the L.A. Times in 1968, there's no documented history of the mini pecan pie known as a tassie.
Pie DoughThis recipe turns out a little cookie cup with pecan filling. The pie crust (not cookie dough) is rolled out, cut and placed in a mini muffin tin. Aunt Rita taught me the secret tool for this process: the pastry tart tamper. This magical, perfectly shaped piece of wood helps mold the dough with expert precision into a mini tart pan.
Pecan Filling
The pecan filling is kind of like a pared-down version of pecan pie filling. It calls for ground pecans, eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter, but instead of corn syrup, I use brown sugar. The result is the perfect ratio of flaky dough to sweet, gooey crunchy pecans.
Pecan Tassies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- Confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. Add flour. Mix until incorporated. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill overnight.
- When ready to bake tassies, prepare filling. In a bowl, combine all filling ingredients. Shape dough into 24 balls, about 1-inch in diameter. Spray two 12-well mini-muffin tins with non-stick food spray. Press a dough ball into each muffin opening. Use fingers or a pastry tart tamper to spread dough evenly up muffin cup sides. Spoon approximately 2 teaspoonfuls of pecan mixture into each pastry cup. Be careful not to overfill. The tassies can spill over while baking, making it difficult to remove the baked cookies.
- Bake until filling is set, approximately 22 – 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pans. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. When ready to serve, sprinkle lightly with confectioners' sugar.
