VCE 2010:Pecan Tassies

Cream Cheese Pastry: 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature 6 ounces (170 grams) regular cream cheese, at room temperature 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour Pecan Filling: 3 large eggs 3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter, melted 1 3/4 cups (370 grams) light brown sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup (110 grams) coarsely chopped pecans Cream Cheese Pastry: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the flour and beat until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for about one hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Have ready two - 24 cup or four - 12 cup miniature muffin pans. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and pinch off one-quarter of the pastry. Return the remaining pastry to the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry dough until about 1/8 inch thick and cut into rounds that are slightly larger than the muffin tins. Gently place the rounds into the muffin tins. Repeat with the rest of the pastry dough. Pecan Filling: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs, butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until well mixed. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the filling into each of the pastry-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle each with some coarsely chopped pecans. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry has nicely browned and the filling is set, yet still a little soft in the center. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool briefly before removing from tins. Pecan Tassies can be frozen. Makes about 48 miniature Pecan Tassies. Sources: Cunningham, Marion. The Fannie Farmer Baking Book. Wings Books. New York: 1984. Ojakangas, Beatrice. The Great Holiday Baking Book. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis: 1994..

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