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Pecan tassies are cream cheese cookie dough cups stuffed with chewy, sweet pecan centers. They taste just like a mini bite of pecan pie–heavenly! One of my favorite Southern holiday cookies!
This is normally the time of year when I try to score good deals on plane tickets home for Christmas and Thanksgiving. You would think that buying this early in advance would be cheaper, and it is, but only slightly.
All that thinking about the holidays made me crave the pecan pie my Dad bakes every Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hope this doesn’t embarrass him, but my Dad can bake one helluva pie.
What are Pecan Tassies?
Instead of baking a whole pecan pie, I made pecan tassies. If you’ve never had a tassie, it’s a cookie cup with a custard filling. It tastes like a bite of pecan pie encased in a rich cream cheese dough.
Pecan tassies are a classic Southern cookie to bake around the holidays, but what do you do when you crave them in April? Do you make an entire batch of 4 dozen cookies? No way, we make a scaled down version that only makes 8 cookies.
Why you’ll love this Recipe For Pecan Tassies
This old-fashioned holiday cookie is like a little bite of pecan pie in a flaky crust. If you love pecan pie, you will love it in bite-size cookie form!
Pecan Tassie Recipe Ingredients
- Butter. One stick of butter for the dough, plus two additional tablespoons to melt and use in the pecan pie filling. So, you need slightly more than one stick of butter for this recipe.
- Cream Cheese. The base of a pecan tassie cookie is the cream cheese dough. Cream cheese makes pie dough tender, flaky and have the slightly tanginess to it. It’s so delicious, you might want to check out my Raspberry Pie Cookies recipe, because it uses the same dough! We need half a brick (or 4 ounces) of cream cheese.
- Flour. Just one cup of all-purpose flour for the dough.
- Egg. Two large eggs, beaten for the filling.
- Brown Sugar. I use molasses-rich brown sugar for the filling of these cookies because this is also what we use in pecan pie to make a moist mixture.
- Whiskey. Depending on where you are in the South, sometimes these cookies have a splash of whiskey in them. If that’s not your thing, use the same amount of vanilla extract in its place. If it’s your thing, use 1 teaspoon.
- Pecans. Just two-thirds of a cup of chopped pecans that you toast lightly in a skillet for a few minutes to bring out their flavor. I love that this recipe uses pieces, so you don’t have to buy expensive whole pecan halves!
How to Make Pecan Tassies with Cream Cheese Crust
In case you’ve never made tassies, I did a little step-by-step of how to get a ball of dough into a cup shape.
First, make the dough: combine with an electric mixer the softened butter and cream cheese.
Add the flour and beat until incorporated. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease 16 cups in a mini muffin pan with the extra butter, and preheat the oven to 350. Form 16 evenly sized balls out of the dough.
Divide the dough into 8 equal-sized balls, then press the dough in the cups, using your fingers to guide the dough up the pan to make a thick crust without any holes or tears.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter, brown sugar, whiskey and pecans. Divide this mixture evenly among the dough cups.
Bake for 20 minutes. The pecan filling with puff up and rise above the edges of the dough.
Pecan Tassie Tips
Dough – If you’re having trouble getting the dough to form in the mini muffin pan, let it warm up at room temperature for a few minutes. It should not be cracking when you’re pushing it into the cups. If it is, it’s too cold.
How do you keep pecan tarts from sticking to the pan?
Before pressing the dough into the pan, we’re going to generously butter the pan. If you let the cookies cool (and the butter solidifies), they will not stick to the pan. If you’re trying to remove them when they’re still too warm, they might flaky and appear to stick. Let them rest!
Pecan Tassie Recipe Serving Suggestions
Tuck these pecan tassies into any Christmas cookie tin, or serve them on a holiday buffet with dollops of whiskey-flavored whipped cream.
Pecan Tassie storage
These cookies keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, but can be prolonged in the fridge for another 2 days. Beyond that, they might become overly soggy.
Can you freeze Pecan Tassies?
Yes, you can freeze these cookies after they’re baked in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To defrost, place them in the fridge overnight and then at room temperature for a few minutes.
Pecan Tassies
Makes 8 pecan tassie cookies.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (plus extra for pan)
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup flour
For the custard filling:
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon whiskey (or vanilla)
- 2/3 cup chopped, toasted pecans
Instructions
- First, make the dough: combine with an electric mixer the softened butter and cream cheese. Add the flour and beat until incorporated. It might not come together into a dough just yet; use your hands to clump it together into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, grease 16 cups in a mini muffin pan with the extra butter, and preheat the oven to 350.
- Divide the dough into 16 equal-sized balls, then press the dough in the cups, as shown above.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, whiskey and pecans. Divide this mixture evenly among the dough cups.
- Bake for 20 minutes. The pecan filling with puff up and rise above the edges of the dough. Yummy!
Notes
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 184Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 49mgSodium: 46mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 1gSugar: 8gProtein: 3g
I LOVE pecan tassies. I’m happy for you that you will be moving closer to your family. Nothing beats time spent with loved ones.
I love pecans so I’m anxious to try to make these pecan tassies. They look scrumptious!
I would eat everyone of these. Thanks for sharing
I just know this would be a new favorite in our house!
did you say cream cheese dough!? I’ve never had a tassie but I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends :)
A-ha! I have a favorite holiday recipe I found in a BH&G magazine years ago for peppermint cherry tassies. I make them every year, but never until now have I come across another person who’d ever heard of a tassie! Glad to know that there is another tassie lover out there! My recipe doesn’t have any sort of custard filling, it’s pure buttery, soft cookie cup with a maraschino cherry pressed into the top!
Never had a tassie, but I see them in my immediate future! Lovely dessert!
Ps. love the purty fingernails!
I’m just about one month away from moving closer to my family too! So, so excited to see family on a much more regular basis…and to have the money we used to spend on plane tickets in a vacation fund instead :) Wishing you well in your move and loving this pecan dessert :)
Never had one before…sound yummy!
You posted some yummy recipes while I was flitting about wine country enjoying your suggestions on places to stop :) These tassies look particularly good and remind me of the white port we bought on our trip. It seriously tasted like pecan pie. So good!
I’m recapping my trip on my blog this week if you’re interested. I can’t thank you enough for your suggestions. They were totally spot on!
Heather! So glad you had fun! I sent you itinerary out on twitter because you did such a good job of cataloging all the places! Thanks for the shout-outs, too :)