Mom has always made these delicious little tarts every Christmas
and they are wonderful! I’m just getting ahead of the game and longing
for Fall weather already and my baking seems to be heading in that direction too. They take a little time but oh so worth it!
Momma’s Pecan Tarts
Preheat the oven to 325F.
The Crust:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and blended.
Mix in flour and salt, working until incorporated. Be careful not to overwork.With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a mound, then divide in half.
Mix in flour and salt, working until incorporated. Be careful not to overwork.With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a mound, then divide in half.
Wrap with plastic. Chill for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
Divide each part of the dough into 24 1-inch balls.
Place each ball into the mini-muffin tin.
Mold the dough into each hole, pressing it up the sides.
Make the filling as below and spoon 1 TBSP filling into each of the muffin tins.
The Filling:
2 large eggs
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely chopped lightly toasted pecans, divided
2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups coarsely chopped lightly toasted pecans, divided
Place the eggs, brown sugar, butter, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl.
Whisk together until smooth.
Add the pecans and stir well.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown around the edges.
Let cool. You should then be able to pop them out of the tins with a small spoon. Let them cool on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
The yummy cream cheese crust ingredients…
Beat the butter and cream cheese till smooth…
Add the flour and then change your paddle to a dough hook…works much better…
After mixing with the dough hook, your crust mixture will look like this…
Divide in half and wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for a while if you want to…Momma didn’t so I don’t and it seems to work just fine…
The filling ingredients…
Whisk the eggs…
Add the brown sugar and melted butter…
Pour in the pecans…
You will get a gooey pecan deliciousness that looks like this…
Meanwhile, roll the dough into balls and place in the muffin tin…why? Because Momma said so…that’s why…
Press the mixture up the sides and spoon 1 TBSP of the pecan mixture into the tins…
Bake for 20 minutes until they are turning brown around the edges.
I have better luck with getting mine out of the tins (even though I spray it with Pam) if I wait until they are very cool and then try to pop them out with a spoon.
If you try it when they are too warm, they will crumble on you and you will eventually become very frustrated and fall into a sobbing heap onto the kitchen floor…this is not pretty…
so, from experience, just wait and great things will happen as below…