Pecan Tassies
Pecan tassies are one of those quintissential Christmas cookies that remind me of being a kid. I can remember sitting at the dining room table at my great aunt’s house, usually on my mom’s lap, and hand-picking treats off of the multiple cookie trays that were laid out. I always had my favorites, the ones I could pop in my mouth like candy, and these pecan tassies were at the top of the list. Even as a kid, I had love affair with pecan pie and so these cookies, which are bite-size renditions of the Thanksgiving classic, were always a must-have Christmas tradition for me.
I haven’t made these in quite a few years and for some reason I couldn’t find my copy of our family recipe. My mom hunted through all of her index cards, calls were made to my grandma and my great aunt, and this quickly became the phantom recipe. The most beloved recipe and suddenly no one could find their copy of the recipe! Conspiracy! My mom did another search of her books and finally found the original source – a ladies auxiliary cookbook for a local fire hall dating back to 1975. I love those yellowed pages – tried and true, battle-tested recipes passed on from generation to generation. I have had more than a few people tell me that these are the best pecan tassies they have ever had.
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I did the first batch of these by just rolling the dough into balls and pressing into the mini muffin cups, which is what the original recipe says to do. I had some trouble getting the dough a decent way up the sides of the cups without making it too thin and too thick in places. So for my second batch, I tried rolling out each little ball into a circle and then popping them into the muffin cups (seen above). That worked out much, much better and made for a more even (and deeper) crust. It’s slightly more time consuming, but I thought it yielded much better results.
I hope you love these cookies as much as our family does!
Is there a certain cookie or treat that reminds you of the holidays as a child?
One year ago: Peppermint Bark
Pecan Tassies
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
- 6 ounces (170.1 g) cream cheese
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
For the Filling:
- 1½ cups (330 g) light brown sugar
- 1 cup (99 g) chopped pecans, plus more for sprinkling on top
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare mini muffin pans by greasing cups if it is not a nonstick pan; set aside.
- To make the dough, beat together the butter, cream cheese and flour on low speed of a stand or hand mixer until all of the flour is incorporated. Divide the dough into 48 pieces and roll into balls. Place on a plate or in a zip-top bag and refrigerate for about an hour.
- Either press the dough balls into the muffin cups and up the sides, or flatten the balls slightly with your palm and use a rolling pin to roll into a disk about 2-3 inches in diameter (a little larger than the size of the muffin cup opening) and place into the muffin cups.
- To make the filling, mix together the brown sugar, chopped pecans, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extra with a spoon and then evenly divide it between the dough-lined mini muffin cups. Top each with some additional chopped pecans.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the tops are set. Cool for a few minutes in the muffin cups and then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. The tassies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Thanks for a great blog–I discovered it while searching for the right mini pecan pie recipe. I made this tonight, and found that our tortilla press made flattening the dough balls a cinch (my 4 1/2 yr old was excited to use the little gadget and pressed the dough easily and perfectly!). My mini muffin pan is dark, so I did bake at 340 degrees instead of 350 and took them out at 22 minutes. My husband who is particular about food, ate 10 of them tonight!
I love these pastries!! My family makes these every year except try putting a few chocolate chips in the bottom! It is sooooo good with them!
I made these today and everyone loved them! I’m a huge fan of your site. Thanks for taking the time to share all of your great recipes.
I adore pecans in anything. These look so good. My son is allergic so I rarely bake with nuts but I may have to try these one of these days.
Sorry this is so late but I am totally backed up on Food Buzz mail.
These were a big hit at work today! Delicious – thank you!
I absolutely adore pecan tassies and I missed having them this year. I am going to make these for New Year’s Eve.
I always loved getting these cookies on cookie plates from friends and family when I was younger. For some reason, they weren’t one of the cookies in my family’s repertoire. I need to make some, though, because they are still one of my favorites!
Hi…I just made these, thank you for a cool retro recipe! I used the pestle part of my mortar and pestle to press them into the tin, and it worked great.
Thanks for posting this recipe! It also looks like the recipe from my mother’s cookbook ages ago and an all time fave of mine since childhood. I’m so glad i ran across this and can’t wait to try this recipe today…this is the first time i’ve made them without my mother so i’m excited to see how they turn out! Thanks!
When a neighbor brought this recipe to me I was not going to try it because I already make so many at Christmas. She insisted and I am sooo Happy she did because it is now one of my favorites for all occasions. I call it a “Pecan Mini Tart” but it is the same as your Tassies.
So for everyone who is on the line deciding to make these try it it is worth your time!
I made these and they are Delicious!! A little time consuming as I rolled them as suggested. Some of the filling bubbled over and then they had huge craters in the middle. Any suggestions on how to avoid this? Maybe my oven baked too hot or I over filled. I’d like to figure it out since they are great bite size treats!
Hi Taylor, They can sometimes bubble over if they are filled up too much. I’ve had it happen from time to time.
I love this recipe. You might think about buying some silicone liners to make these. They pop out of the pans so easily
As always, your pictures are excellent and your treats as well. Greeting from Sweden!
these look lovely. I can jsut about taste them from the photos. I’ll be bookmarking this for in the holidays. Have you tried / used a pastry dibber ? You basically pop the pastry in the mini muffin mould / tin and squash it to form the shape..
You can see mine here – though the party in those photos is a bit too thick
http://siliconemoulds.blogspot.com/2010/05/mini-rolo-tarts-too-simple.html
I made small pecan pies (in muffin tins) last year, and plan to again this year for Christmas. If I could make a suggestion, try peanut butter cookie dough as the crust. It is incredible.
Love your blog, and merry Christmas
I love getting vintage cookbooks or those quirky little cookbooks nobody ever seems to like! These tassies look awesome! I think the one thing that reminds me of my childhood Christmas are those spritzer cookies! We used to make those all the time!
Wow, I love vintage recipes such as these….looks great.
This is the new camera isn’t it? Soo nice!!! I knew you would be a pro from the start!
Oh my, these look sooo good. I’m seriously going to have to try and make a batch. Could be a new Christmas baking tradition around here.
Cutie Patooties!
They look delicious! I will have to try them.
Thanks for sharing.
Anne.
Amazing pictures!! These look so good, only if I could eat nuts! CRAP man! ha :)
I’ve never heard of a Tassie but I like what I see! These look delicious!
I love recipes from old cookbooks! I am copying this recipe asap. Thank you for sharing.
You talked about these the other day and I just had to make them. I used the Joy of Baking recipe and it is very close to yours. I added toffee pieces (1 cup) too. These are delicious. Now I will try your recipe next time around.
These are so cute! I love classic festive cookie recipes – thanks for sharing this wonderful treat!
They look so sinfully delicious! Thank you for sahring ^_^
I’ve been dying to make these since I saw them in an issue of Everyday Food magazine!
These are the perfect bite! I love pecan pie and this just reminds me of it perfectly!
xoxo
Lila Ferraro
I love pecan tassies. These are so pretty!