These little tartlets are just the perfect size and pack a very tasty punch. They’re very much like a miniature pecan pie. Perfect for tea time (my obsession) or as a “light” dessert.
I have actually made these twice now. Once with pecans while in the states, once with walnuts. The ones in the picture are, as you can see, made with walnuts. For some reason, Germans have an aversion to pecans (this is my theory anyway).
I visited about four different supermarkets looking for pecans in any shape or form and came up short. Not only are they not available next to the 4 varieties of hazelnuts (chopped, sliced, ground, whole), 7 varieties of almonds (chopped, sliced, ground, slivered, whole, blanched, and marzipan-ed), and every other type of nut in the world, they cannot be found in any baked good or processed food anywhere.
As you can tell, I was a little irritated with missing nuts, but sucked it up and decided to go with the ever available walnut (shipped straight from sunny California by the way). However, after all the palava, the walnut ones also turned out amazing (not sure what I was worried about)!!!
Pecan Tassies
adapted from this recipe
Makes 20
Dough
- 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
- 4 oz mascarpone cheese
- 1 ounce unsalted butter, room temp
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
Filling
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, lightly toasted, coarsely chopped
Pre-heat oven to 350F
In a food processor, finely grind the pecans or walnuts and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the mascarpone and butter until well combined. Add in the flour, ground pecans/walnuts and salt and mix until just combined.
Divide the dough into 20 small balls and press into the bottoms and sides of a mini-muffin tin.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter and salt. Then stir in the chopped pecans/walnuts.
Spoon the filling into each shell, filling right to the top but being careful not to let it overflow.
Bake until crusts are golden, about 15 minutes. Cool completely in tins and then attempt to unmould and enjoy!
Fig & Honey 