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These two bite Pecan Tassies are like miniature Pecan Pies. They make a nice addition to your holiday baking, and are especially good when you're having a large group over for dinner and want to serve your desserts buffet style. The pastry is unique as it contains cream cheese, which adds both flavor as well as making the pastry wonderfully tender and flaky. The custard-like filling is sweet and gooey and has lots of crunchy pecans. Tarts begin with pastry. For these Pecan Tassies, I decided to use a cream cheese pastry as it's very easy to work with. It rolls out easily, doesn't tear, and when baked it turns a beautiful golden brown. The filling, like a pecan pie, is sweet and gooey, although I do not find it cloyingly so (as there is no corn syrup). It is important not to over bake these tarts, or the filling will become a little grainy. So bake them just until the filling is set yet still a little soft. Of course, the star of the show here is the Pecan. Pecans are a native American nut. They are a member of the hickory family and grow in temperate climates. Pecans have a smooth, reddish-brown, one-inch (2.5 cm) long oval shell which encloses two golden-brown crinkled lobes with ivory-colored meat.They have a buttery, soft-textured, slightly bittersweet taste that is enhanced when toasted. If you would like to toast the pecans before adding them to the filling, simply place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake for about eightminutes in a 350 degree F (180 degree C) oven until lightly browned and fragrant. Lastly, if you don't have pecans, you could also use chopped walnuts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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