MINIATURE PECAN TARTS
Bite-sized pecan tarts, sweet, nutty and delicious!
Equipment
- mini-muffin tin
- 2 inch petal cookie cutter optional
Ingredients
Cream Cheese pastry
Mix together:
- 3 ounce cream cheese
- 1 stick butter salted, or if using unsalted add 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour preferably Gold Medal but any will work
Filling
Blend together:
- 1 tablespoon softened butter
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar light brown sugar
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup chopped pecans substitute mixed nuts if you like, walnuts
Instructions
Dough
- Original instructions: Combine well and refrigerate. Cut into small circles and press into mini-muffin tin.
- My instructions: Mix the dough in a food processor. Place flour in fp bowl. Add butter and cream cheese to flour. Pulse mixture just until it begins to clump. Do not overprocess. Pour onto wax paper or plastic wrap and pat into a disc shape. Chill for at least 2 hours.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry out to 3/16-1/4 inch thickness. Cut into small circles. I use a petal cutter 2.5-inch or a plain round 2-inch cutter. Press circles into ungreased muffin tins. Chill muffin tins while making the filling.
Filling
- Blend filling ingredients well. Pour into a squeeze bottle. I use a plastic TJ honey container that has an opening about 1/8inch. This is a quick way to fill the muffin tins. You could use a spoon.
- Fill prepared muffin tins about 3/4 full. Allow filling to settle slightly. Fill each muffin tin to the top with finely chopped pecans (about 1 cup) Chill.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 250 degrees and bake 20 minutes longer. Allow tarts to cool and carefully remove from tins.
- Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar while still warm. Allow to cool before removing from tins.
Notes
There aren't instructions for the prepared muffin tins. I'm guessing at lightly greased. I generally don't grease the tins and occasionally I lose a tartlet to sticking but for the most part a little pry with a thin bladed knife and the tarts come out of the pan.