Pecan Pastry Cups Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the dough: Process pecans in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1/2 cup); set aside. Put mascarpone or cream cheese and butter into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended. Add flour, ground pecans, and salt; mix just until dough comes together. Alternatively, stir together ingredients with a wooden spoon in a large bowl.
• Roll dough into eighteen 1-inch balls, and press into bottoms and up sides of cups of mini-muffin tins.
• Make the filling: Whisk the egg, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons filling into each muffin cup.
• Bake pecan tassies until crust begins to turn golden, about 20-22 minutes. Let cool completely in tins on wire rack. Unmold. Pecan tassies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour, beating until mixture forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes. For filling, in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, eggs and butter., Roll dough into 1-in. balls. Press onto the bottoms and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups. Spoon filling into cups; top each with a pecan half. , Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

Steps:

• Process pecans in a food processor until finely ground. Beat together mascarpone and butter with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Add flour, pecans, and salt and beat just until dough comes together.
• Divide dough into 40 balls (about 1 tablespoon each) and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Working in batches if necessary, lightly coat cups of mini muffin tins with cooking spray. Press balls into bottoms and up sides of cups and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pastry cups 15 minutes. Press down bottoms of cups with the end of a wooden spoon handle, then continue to bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool completely before filling with curd.

Steps:

• To Make Pastry: Cream butter or margarine and cream cheese. Add flour and mix well. Make into 48 balls; place one ball in each cup of a mini tart pan. Use your fingers or a tart tamper to press out into a tart shell.
• To Make Filling: Break the eggs, but do not beat. Add sugar, melted butter, salt, vanilla and pecans. Mix well. Fill the tart shells. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until delicately browned.

Steps:

• Combine 1 cup butter and cream cheese in a bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add flour gradually, beating at low speed. Shape mixture into 48 balls and place on a baking sheet. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease the cups of a mini-muffin pan. Press 1 chilled dough ball into each cup and shape into a tart shell.
• Whisk brown sugar, eggs, 2 tablespoons butter, vanilla extract, and salt together in a bowl. Stir in 1 1/4 cups pecans. Spoon mixture into tart shells. Top with the remaining pecans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges of cookie shell are delicately brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Gently remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks, about 20 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• To Make Crust: In a medium mixing bowl blend softened cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter or margarine until thoroughly combined. Add flour and mix well. Place in refrigerator to chill.
• In a medium mixing bowl combine brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter or margarine. Add egg and vanilla, and blend well. Stir in pecans.
• Pat crust into the bottoms of paper muffin cups. Pour in filling, distributing evenly between all cups. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small bowl, combine the pecans and flour. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir the dry ingredients into a pan. Transfer the batter to a bowl and stir occasionally until it thickens into a dough and is cool enough to handle, about 25 minutes.
• With moistened hands, roll the dough into various size balls, depending on whether you're making cookies, cups or coronets (see below). Place on ungreased baking sheets, 3 to 7 inches apart, depending on size-they spread quite a bit. Bake about 12 minutes, or until the active bubbling subsides. Place the baking sheet on rack and let cool until the cookies are firm enough to lift with a flexible metal spatula but are still malleable, 3 to 5 minutes. Working quickly, mold each into shape and set on a wire rack to cool completely. If the cookies get too cool and brittle to mold, put the try back in the oven for a minute to soften.
• To make 9 dessert bowls: With moistened hands, mold each ball using a rounded tablespoon of dough. Place only 2 balls on the ungreased baking sheet. Have 2 small soup bowls measuring 4 1/2 to 5-inches across the top ready by the oven. Follow the baking instruction above. When set but still malleable, lift the cookies, one at a time, and place each in a bowl, nutty, bumpy side up. Gently press the bottom to flatten. The sides will ruffle prettily. Wipe the excess butter off the baking sheet and continue with the remaining dough. If you have more than 1 baking sheet, stagger the baking so that you can mold 1 tray while the other is in the oven.
• Fill with butterscotch ice cream, pumpkin mousse, bananas and cream, or anything that strikes your fancy and goes well with pecans.
• To make 9 ice cream cones: Follow the baking instructions above for dessert bowls, but when you lift a cookie off the baking sheet, roll it into a cone with the nutty, bumpy side facing out, and hold it for a few seconds to set. Lay it on the cooling rack, seam side down, and place a cylindrical object, such as a pill bottle, in the opening to set until you roll the next cookie.
• Fill with scoops of any flavor ice cream or sorbet that complements pecans.
• To make 18 coronets: With moistened hands, mold rounded teaspoons of the dough into balls. Place about 9 balls on an ungreased baking sheet. Follow the baking instructions for ice-cream cones; you're making a smaller version of the same. Repeat with a second tray.
• Fill with mousse, ice cream, or berries and cream. Place a little dab of cream on the plate to anchor the coronets, and place 1 or 2 coronets on each plate with fruit sauce or hot fudge spilling out of the opening.
• To make 24 cookies: With moistened hands, mold level teaspoons of dough into balls. Place about 12 balls on an ungreased baking sheet. Follow the instructions above. When the cookies are set but still flexible, transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with a second tray.
• To make 24 cigarettes: Follow the baking instructions for cookies, but when you lift a cookie off the baking sheet, roll it around a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon. Lay it on the cooling rack, seam side down. If the cookies get too brittle to mold, put the baking sheet back in the oven for a minute to soften them. To dip the ends in melted chocolate, immerse 1 end of a cookie, then the other, shake off the excess chocolate, and dip the end into a small bowl of grated chocolate.
• Lay it on a sheet pan lined with parchment or waxed paper. When all the cookies are dipped, place the tray in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes, just until the chocolate sets.

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Stir in the flour and mix thoroughly. The dough should be somewhat firm. Roll into 36 small balls, place them on a plate and refrigerate for one hour.
• Make the filling in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs, melted butter, vanilla and brown sugar until smooth and well blended. Stir in the nuts. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Press the chilled dough balls into the bottom and up the sides of tart pans or mini muffin cups. Fill each shell with filling almost to the top. Use a squeeze top honey container if you have one, to drip about 1/2 teaspoon of honey onto the top of each cup.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until crust is lightly browned. Allow to cool in the tins completely before removing.