Pecan tassies are cream cheese cookie dough cups stuffed with chewy, sweet pecan centers. They taste just like a mini bite of pecan pie--heavenly! One of my favorite holiday cookies!
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.
Pecan tassies are Southern delights:
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, we make a scaled down version that only makes 8 cookies.
Pecan tassies recipe, step by step:
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. Please note that we're using a mini muffin pan, not a full-size regular muffin pan, ok?
You just made tassie cups! Now, pour in your pecan custard mixture, bake 20 minutes, and enjoy!
Pecan Tassies
Makes 8 pecan tassie cookies.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for pan)
- 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup flour
For the custard filling:
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon whiskey (or vanilla)
- ⅓ cup chopped, toasted pecans
Instructions
- 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!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 46mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 3g
Dana {The Sunday Sweet} says
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.
Paula says
I love pecans so I'm anxious to try to make these pecan tassies. They look scrumptious!
rick@http://texasfoodandtravel.blogspot.com/ says
I would eat everyone of these. Thanks for sharing
Sommer@ASpicyPerspective says
I just know this would be a new favorite in our house!
Let Me Eat Cake says
did you say cream cheese dough!? I've never had a tassie but I have a feeling we're going to be good friends :)
Andrea says
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!
Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen says
Never had a tassie, but I see them in my immediate future! Lovely dessert!
Ps. love the purty fingernails!
Baking Serendipity says
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 :)
The Food Hunter says
Never had one before...sound yummy!
Heather {ModernMealsforTwo} says
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!
Christina says
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 :)