Pecan Tassies

Tassies....growing up, tassies were always present on the plate of Christmas goodies that my mom or grandma would make.  I loved them so.  The silly thing about me... I love these little tassies...these little pecan pies...but that's just it, I don't really like pecan pie.  Hmmmm...very interesting, I like pecan tassies, which are basically just bite size pies...but I don't like pecan pie.  I'll have to do some research into that phenomenon!!

These tasty little treats are sure to please this holiday season.  So, add them to your goody tray this year and see if they don't quickly become a favorite treat of everyone's.

One note before I get to the recipe:  I cut this recipe in half... the recipe I'm posting here will make about 100+ tassies.  I did not want, nor need, nor have the patience to make that many, so I just cut the quantities of each ingredient in half.  Nice thing about these, though, they freeze well, so if you make the full batch, you can always freeze half and save them for another time.

 

Pecan Tassies
Recipe courtesy of my mom (Sharon)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
Dough -
1 lb. cream cheese
1 lb. butter (I used unsalted), room temperature
4 cups flour
Filling -
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1 lb. light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 - 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the flour.  Mix well; if dough should be easy to handle.  Set aside.

In another bowl, mix together all the filling ingredients until well combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Using miniature cupcake pans (spray with a bit of nonstick spray) , firm dough into balls the size of walnuts.  Press into pans to form shells.  Fill 3/4 full with filling mixture.  Bake 25 minutes or until the dough is slightly brown.  Remove from pan carefully.  Yield: Approximately 100-125 tassies