Pecan Tassies
This is normally the time of year when I try to score good deals on plane tickets home for Christmas and Thanksgiving. You would think that buying this early in advance would be cheaper, and it is, but only slightly. However, I’m just a few weeks away from moving within driving distance of my family. Hallelujah!, no more flying home for the holidays. I’m so ecstatic, I can’t stop thinking about it.
All that thinking about the holidays made me crave the pecan pie my Dad bakes every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hope this doesn’t embarrass him, but my Dad can bake one helluva pie.
Instead of baking a whole pecan pie, I made pecan tassies. If you’ve never had a tassie, it’s a cookie cup with a custard filling. It tastes like a bite of pecan pie encased in a rich cream cheese dough.
Pecan tassies are a classic Southern cookie to bake around the holidays, but what do you do when you crave them in April? Do you make an entire batch of 4 dozen cookies? No way! Remember my little portion control problem?
I scaled these down to make only 8 cookies.
In case you’ve never made tassies, I did a little step-by-step of how to get a ball of dough into a cup shape:
After chilling your dough, divide it into 8 balls
Then, using your thumb, press the dough down into the cup and press the dough up the sides of your mini muffin pan.
You just made tassie cups! Now, pour in your custard, bake 20 minutes, and enjoy!
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for pan)
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup flour
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon whiskey (or vanilla)
- ⅓ cup chopped, toasted pecans
- First, make the dough: combine with an electric mixer the softened butter and cream cheese. Add the flour and beat until incorporated. It might not come together into a dough just yet; use your hands to clump it together into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, grease 8 cups in a mini muffin pan with the extra butter, and preheat the oven to 350.
- Divide the dough into 8 equal-sized balls, then press the dough in the cups, as shown above.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, brown sugar, whiskey and pecans. Divide this mixture evenly among the dough cups.
- Bake for 20 minutes. The pecan filling with puff up and rise above the edges of the dough. Yummy!
I had pecan pie for the first time last year and I loved it. Definitely going to try these, anything that tastes like pie but doesn’t involve rolling out pastry dough is a winner!
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You need to change your blog name to baking for one, because I’d eat every last morsel of these babies!
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What a fabulous, tasty, treat!
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These are so cute and I love cream cheese pie dough! Also so excited for you and your big move:-)
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Love it! I just bought a mini-muffin pan and have yet to put it to use…
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Oh my! I have been craving pecan pie, but sure didn’t want to make a whole pie. These look like just the thing and like Rachel Cooks, I have a recently purchased mini-muffin pan that I haven’t yet used
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These look delish! Need to get a mini muffin pan this weekend!
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I’ve never heard of a tassie, but I like it just b/c it sounds like sassy
. So excited for your big move!
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Your 8-quantity desserts are just perfect, you genius! I love these. Pecan pie anytime of the year, I will take it!
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Just wanted to let you know that I love your blog. You are seriously a genius! I’m constantly thinking… it would be nice to have a recipe for…. and there you are! Love it!
Keep up the good work and delicious recipes!
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my hubby (ok fine, me too) would totally devour these all at once!
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You are all that is wonderful.
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My grandmother always made these for us, and I LOVE that you’ve shared this! And the way you make the crust! Because my grandmother had a special wooden spoon thingy to form the dough, and it is pretty IMPOSSIBLE to do without that. So next time I make the tassies, I’m definitely following the dough-ball steps you just put out here!
Thanks, lady!
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These are so cute, and much better than having an entire pecan pie, especially when you’re not trying to feed the holiday crowd. Baby Treats = <3
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So happy for you to be moving near your family. That is just wonderful! How sweet that your dad bakes a wonderful pecan pie…it’s one of my favorite pies and just love these sweet little tassies!xx
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I love pecan tassies. They were one of the first sweets I made for christmas with the family!! happy to have a scaled down version. Happy your moving closer to your family!!
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OMG My grandmother made these, and her recipe was close but NOT as easy! MUST.. MAKE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wow on the move, that’s huge! Good luck! These look wonderful and would be a huge hit with my hubby!
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I love these cute little morsels of pecan pie – so much less dangerous than making a whole one, although I do love a proper slice too
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Mmmmm – cream cheese in dough?! That sounds amazing! Im pecan pies biggest fan.. April or whatever!
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I LOVE pecan tassies. I’m happy for you that you will be moving closer to your family. Nothing beats time spent with loved ones.
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I love pecans so I’m anxious to try to make these pecan tassies. They look scrumptious!
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I would eat everyone of these. Thanks for sharing
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I just know this would be a new favorite in our house!
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did you say cream cheese dough!? I’ve never had a tassie but I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends
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A-ha! I have a favorite holiday recipe I found in a BH&G magazine years ago for peppermint cherry tassies. I make them every year, but never until now have I come across another person who’d ever heard of a tassie! Glad to know that there is another tassie lover out there! My recipe doesn’t have any sort of custard filling, it’s pure buttery, soft cookie cup with a maraschino cherry pressed into the top!
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Never had a tassie, but I see them in my immediate future! Lovely dessert!
Ps. love the purty fingernails!
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I’m just about one month away from moving closer to my family too! So, so excited to see family on a much more regular basis…and to have the money we used to spend on plane tickets in a vacation fund instead
Wishing you well in your move and loving this pecan dessert 
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Never had one before…sound yummy!
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[...] has formed a pie-crust shape. (Major kudos to Christina at Dessert for Two for sharing this tip on her Pecan Tassie recipe. This has made my life SO much [...]
You posted some yummy recipes while I was flitting about wine country enjoying your suggestions on places to stop
These tassies look particularly good and remind me of the white port we bought on our trip. It seriously tasted like pecan pie. So good!
I’m recapping my trip on my blog this week if you’re interested. I can’t thank you enough for your suggestions. They were totally spot on!
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Christina Reply:
May 2nd, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Heather! So glad you had fun! I sent you itinerary out on twitter because you did such a good job of cataloging all the places! Thanks for the shout-outs, too
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Just finished making these and they’re pretty awesome! The perfect 4 bite treat. I actually quadrupled the recipe and made 21 tassies in a regular-sized muffin pan. I also recommend more pecans, you can never go wrong with more nuts
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