Pecan Tassies

24 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 40 minutes

Pecan Tassies are mini pecan pie cookies with flakey crusts and a sweet creamy filling, incredibly EASY to make even in multiple batches!

Pecans are the perfect ingredient to add to Holiday Desserts, and we love them in these Pecan Pie Muffins, Slow Cooker Candied Cinnamon Pecans, and Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Pie!

Pecan Tassies in mini muffin pan

PECAN TASSIES

Pecan Tassies are the PERFECT dessert to make on the holidays. They’re basically the bite-sized version of pecan pie, made in a mini muffin pan so you can make a big batch of these at once. You can also make larger versions using a regular-sized non-stick muffin pan.

These tassies are often referred to as cookies, so you can technically classify them as that. These are usually served around Christmas, but you could also put them out for Easter, you’ll start to get requests for them at family gatherings.

MORE HOLIDAY DESSERT RECIPES

TIPS FOR MAKING PECAN TASSIES

  • You can use other pie filling instead of pecan, try apple or cherry. You can also use the crust from this recipe to make mini cheesecakes.
  • You can use Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese, which is basically a lower fat version of cream cheese, without any flavor difference.
  • If you’re having trouble pressing the dough into the muffin tin, try rolling the dough out and cutting out circles, then laying the circles into the tin.
  • This recipe calls for brown sugar which adds a lot of the signature flavor, but white sugar will work in a pinch if that’s all you have.
  • Grease your muffin tin, or use little ungreased cupcake liners to make them easier to remove from the tin and serve.
  • Measure your all purpose flour carefully, as adding too much can make these crumbly.
  • Add a splash of bourbon to the filling for an adult version of these pecan pies.
  • Save some larger pecan pieces to press into the top of each tassie for decoration.
  • Add some mini chocolate chips or dried cranberries to the filling in this pecan tassies recipe, and to the top for some fruity or chocolate pecan pie flavor!

HOW TO STORE PECAN TASSIES

  • Serve: You can keep Pecan Tassies at room temperature for up to a week. Cover and keep in a cool, dry place.
  • Store: Keep these Pecan Tassies fresh longer and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Warm in the microwave or bring to room temperature to serve.
  • Freeze: Freeze Pecan Tassies for up to 2 months in a freezer safe bag with parchment paper between layers to prevent sticking. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or in the oven at 300 degrees to serve.

Pecan Tassies in mini muffin pan

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Pecan Pie Tassies

Pecan Tassies are mini pecan pie cookies with flakey crusts and a sweet creamy filling, incredibly EASY to make even in multiple batches!
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened and divided
  • 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar , packed
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup pecans , very finely chopped

Instructions

  • Beat together the 8 tablespoons (be careful to reserve 2 tablespoons here) butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy then add in the flour until just mixed, remove from the stand mixer and refrigerate for an hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease your mini muffin tins well.
  • To the stand mixer add the remaining butter, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, cinnamon and pecans and mix on low speed until combined.
  • Divide the dough into 24 pieces and press into your muffin tins using a handle of a wooden spoon or similarly shaped tool wrapped in saran wrap to shape a well inside the dough in each muffin tin cavity, then fill with 1 teaspoon of pecan filling and bake for 20-22 minutes.
  • Cool for 15 minutes before carefully removing from the muffin tins, running a knife around them if needed to loosen them first.

Video

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 121kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 32mg | Potassium: 32mg | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 220IU | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Keyword: pecan pie tassies

Pecan Tassies Collage

Photos used in a previous version of this post.

Pecan Tassies

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

    1. Freeze: Freeze Pecan Tassies for up to 2 months in a freezer safe bag with parchment paper between layers to prevent sticking. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight or in the oven at 300 degrees to serve.

  1. These are so delicious! I usually find a full slice of pecan pie to be far too sweet, so these little bites are just perfect.

    1. The top of the Tassies that’s exposed to the heat caramelizes and hardens to make a sweet, crunchy layer on top!

    2. Sabrina,
      I’ve made these for 20 years using non-stick mini muffin tins. I’ve never been very successful with them not sticking in the tins. I refrigerate my dough prior to forming them in the tins. I’d make them more if that process was less onerous. I end up soaking the tins overnight to release the baked on dough. Any advice?

      1. Have you tried greasing your muffin tin, or use little ungreased cupcake liners to make them easier to remove from the tin and serve?

      1. Hi Jose,
        Some recipes call for sour cream instead of cream cheese. If you’re looking for a dairy substitute there are a variety of vegan cream cheese options.
        Sabrina

  2. I love the look and idea of these but do you think I could add a little corn syrup to make it more gooey like a pecan pie?

  3. I was so looking forward to these. I very carefully measured everything but when they came out of the oven at 22 minutes they were very brown on the top and not done on the bottom. When I tried to remove them from the pan they fell apart. I expected them to be more like a cream cheese pie crust but these were very bread like. They were basically mini pecan muffins except without the gooey filling because that baked into the muffin. Terribly disappointed.

  4. These are fabulous! My m also made these at Christmas every year, after she passed I had her recipes and one yr I took this recipe w/ me to the store, and lost it !!! I was mad at myself !And then along came the internet !!! I make them at Christmas now and they are a huge hit. Sending my brother some and and I”m wondering about freezing them, what do you think about that ??

  5. My mom made Pecan Tassies every year for Christmas, but I’ve never given them a try. Tried your recipe and REALLY loved them! Only thing is I had to bake them SO much longer. The crust did not seem to brown. They taste fabulous. Thank you for posting the recipe!

  6. Thoughts on baking this as bars in an 8×8 brownie tin? Making sure the dough goes up the sides of the pan a bit on all sides? If so, would you bake crust for a few min and then fill and finish baking? Or just bake the whole thing for longer? Thanks!

  7. I just made these pecan pie tassies. They are delicious!!! The 1 tablespoon of vanilla is correct. I baked them for 20 minutes. Next time I’ll bake them for a few minutes more. I like the crust a little crispier or done. I’ll make this recipe again and again. Thank you.

  8. I think there’s a typo in the vanilla quantity? Should this be Teaspoon Not tablespoon? My dough did not turn out – it was underdone and the topping was burning?

    1. What temperature were you cooking the cookies at? It burned at 325? Would love to help troubleshoot. And no I love the flavor of the vanilla and pecans and tested it at 1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons and 1 tablespoon and the tasting group LOVED the 1tbsp batch best. More expensive (especially with how expensive vanilla is now) but the taste testers weren’t even close on their feelings. Happy Thanksgiving!

  9. Hi Sabrina,
    If I’m making these in normal-sized muffin/cupcake tin (I don’t have minis), what adjustments do you think I should make to baking temp and/or temperature? Thx!

    1. If you’re doing 12 large ones I’d say try for the same time at 350 degrees, but that is a pure guess since I haven’t tested it. I wouldn’t want to ruin your holiday meal. I think 350 would work well for you it’s just a matter of the timing. Start checking at 20 minutes by watching it without opening the oven door. When you see it looking less soupy and the edges browning you’re good to go. Wish I could give you better timing on it. Good luck! Happy Thanksgiving!

    1. The recipe card is at the bottom of the post and includes ingredients and instructions to make these cookies. Enjoy!

      1. I must be blind, I just spent 10 minutes looking for the dough recipe and don’t see a recipe card at the bottom anywhere. The entire recipe that I can see does not tell the dough recipe? Would be great if you just put the entire recipe in the instructions, and could someone please forward me the rest of the recipe? Would love to try these! Thank you!

        1. Hi! The dough is made in the first line of instructions. :Beat together the 8 tablespoons (be careful to reserve 2 tablespoons here) butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy then add in the flour until just mixed, remove from the stand mixer and refrigerate for an hour.

  10. My daughter is having a dessert bar at her wedding next weekend. I was thinking of making these ahead of time. Can they be frozen? Thank you!

    1. They’ll last up to a week at room temperature. You can place them in the fridge to extend the life a bit but might dry out a little once stored cold.

  11. Hi. Can I use this recipe for pecan tassies filling? If yes, what would be the bake time using a 24 cup mini muffin pan? I will be using the Trader Joe’s pie crust For the tasssies. Also, for the cup cake, can I use gluten free all purpose flour and substitute vegan butter? Same measurements? Thank you.

    1. You can use the filling part to use for the pre-made pie crust. For mini muffins, you may need the same oven temp and bake time but I would check the package of the TJ pie crust for additional directions. I’ve not used any other substations for this recipe so if you decide to try, I’d love to know what worked for you. Thanks!

  12. Hey there!

    I am about to try your recipe but I do have a question. Within instructions #1 it states “be careful to reserve 2 tbsps here”; reserve for what?

    Thanks!

    1. So sorry, your question got snagged in my spam filter. The remaining 2 tablespoons of butter are added into step 3.

  13. Can I mix ground walnuts with the ground pecans? I do not have the needed amount of pecans. This recipe sounds like the recipe I lost 30 years ago and looking forward to trying this recipe.

    1. Nobody asked me, but I’ve made these tiny tarts with nuts other than pecans in the past. One of my grandsons is allergic to most nuts, but can handle hazelnuts, and they are delicious in this recipe. I’ve used almonds, too, but with white sugar instead of brown.

  14. I think I will double the recipe so can anyone tell me what 20 tbs of butter would be? 1/4 cup maybe?

  15. You got me at pecans, that is my favorite nut ever. This dessert looks like the perfect sweet bite. I need one =)

  16. Oh, my! I love pecans and your pecan tassies look so good! Looks like an easy recipe with few ingredients. My favourite sort.

  17. Just pinned these babies! The sound divine and my family LOVES pecan treats. The pecan pie is always the first to go during the holidays. 🙂