Merry Christmas and welcome to my food blog. This has been a year in the making (for many reasons) and it’s my present to myself and to you It’s hard to pick the right day to begin or “the” dish to start with, but what is better than Christmas Day, and a Christmas tradition that started in my teens with people I loved and cherished.
Unlike most dishes made in my kitchen, I did not develop this recipe. We first tasted pecan Tassies at our neighbor’s house, “Toots,” who agreed to teach me how to make them. My brother, James, pitched in and we baked all night long, feeling a bit special because the cookies get shaped in a mini-muffin pan, and at the time, was the most sophisticated thing we had ever baked.
Most of my life is on a mac; but, I’ve kept the handwritten recipe all these years, and bring it out every Christmas. “Toots” never knew she had given me a Christmas tradition that would stay with me all of my life and bring me back to a memory of my brother, who I miss so much at this time of year.
The power of sharing recipes, sharing food, sharing memories moves me to be here and share my food life with you.
Pecan Tassies
Pecan Tassies are sometimes referred to as mini-pecan pies, but I tend to disagree with that. Pecan pies seem to be 90% sweet filling and 10% pastry, which is overly sweet for my taste. Pecan Tassies have more pastry than sweet filling, changing the bite altogether; and while I am not a fan of pecan pie, I am crazy for these cookies.
The pastry is made with cream cheese and will be perfect every time, as long as you use real butter and don’t over bake. They also freeze very well, but we never have any left over.
Pastry
- 12 oz. cream cheese
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups flour
- 1 t salt
- Cream butter and cream cheese. Add salt to flour and mix together to form pastry dough.
- Roll into 48 small one inch balls. Refrigerate for at least one hour. In the meantime, make filling.
Filling
Ingredients
- 2 cups pecans, divided 1 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- Beat together,
- Lightly toast 2 cups pecans.
- Chop 3/4 cup and grind or finely chop remaining pecans. I used a magic bullet nut grinder, but be careful not to make into a paste.
- Mix “ground” nuts into filling mixture. Reserve chopped nuts.
- Press pastry balls into non-greased mini-muffin pan. I use a pestle to make room for filling and press in. Assemble by putting a a tiny bit of chopped nuts first and then top with filling.
- Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Note: I tried making these “tart” size and I wasn’t entirely happy. I learned that you can do if you use very small tart shells, use less pastry per filling ratio and use only chopped pecans, not ground.
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