Pecan Tassies

One of the Women's Club I used to belong to had wonderful Christmas parties.  The menu was always the same generation after generation!  Pecan Tassies were a must on the menu.  Bon Appetit!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., with an oven rack in the middle of the oven

Tassie  Filling

1-1/2 cups pecan halves chopped
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups packed brown sugar (light or dark)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter, melted 

Dough

Either Pillsbury roll out pie crust which is easily cut into circles

and tampered down into a greased mini muffin pan or this recipe:

Cream Cheese Dough

2-1/3 cups (291grams) all-purpose flour-measured

by fluffing, scooping and leveling
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Pinch salt
12 tablespoons (6 ounces) butter, cold
12 ounces cream cheese, cold
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place 1 teaspoonful of nuts into each cup. Spoon in 2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons of the sugar/egg mixture,

filling the tarts to within a scant 1/8-inch of the top. Do not fill the tarts up to the top, as the filling expands as it cooks and tarts that have overflowed are hard to remove from the pans after baking.

Place the pans on a cookie sheet and bake for 26-28 minutes, until the filling is puffed and the pastry is lightly browned. Remove the pans to a cooling rack. Let the pastry stand for 5 minutes. While the pastry is still warm, run a skewer along the top edge of the pastry to loosen it from the pan and then remove the tarts from the pans (if you wait, you'll be unable to remove them from the pans unless you have a Teflon pan or have buttered the pan heavily). Set the tarts on a cooling rack to cool completely

SERVING AND STORING

Keep tassies at room temperature for a day, but because they have a moist filling, it might be safer to refrigerate them after a few hours. They should be eaten at room temperature, however. Tassies can be frozen for up to 3 months. Store them in an airtight container. To defrost, place them in one layer on a pan or plate, cover loosely with plastic, foil or waxed paper. They'll defrost in an hour or two.