Pecan Tassies

Christmas is almost here! I am so excited. But I am also sorry for missing the past two Fridays of the Christmas cookies. Things are crazy here, as they are everywhere I am sure. My first final is on Sunday (who knew they could be so evil as to put in on Sunday), then Tuesday and finally the 18th which is a Saturday. But as much as I am panicking over finals, everything Christmas is in my mind. 

Every Christmas I make up boxes of baked goods. I normally put in a variety to give options. This year these babies are going in for 'nut' segment of the box. If you do not like pecans/pecan pie, this is not for you. If you do, like I recently discover I do, love it then meet heaven. This recipe is great because you can really taste the pecans, more so than in pecan pie. And they actually don't take that long to make.

Pecan Tassies

Adapted from Martha Stewart
 

dough

1/2 cup pecans, toasted
1/2 cup (4 ounces) cream cheese
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of kosher salt

filling 

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 large egg
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350º. Process pecans in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1/3 cup); set aside. Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Add flour, ground pecans, and salt; mix just until dough comes together. Roll dough into twenty two (approximately) 1-inch balls, and press into bottoms and up sides of cups of mini-muffin tins.* Put approximately a teaspoon in the each muffin cup. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt in a small bowl. Stir in pecans. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons filling, basically until they are just filled, into each muffin cup. Bake pecan tassies until crust begins to turn golden, about 15 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.

* They pop right out of the tins surprisingly. I was worried they would stick but apparently not.  

S'more Tart

Too many cookies have been flowing around here lately. It's not a bad thing just sort of boring. Mind you, prepare for another cookie recipe on Friday! To get out of the cookie slump that I often fall in, s'mores brought me out. Since every Friday a cookie recipe has to be posted, I was going to do a s'more bar. Change of plans and out came a tart. This was actually for my baby Bacon, I've mentioned her quite a bit, since it was her birthday yesterday! It was a pre-birthday gift in a way. So if you are reading this Bacon, Happy belated birthday, you animal.

This recipe is really from all over the place and I am glad that it just worked out to be honest. The crust was a bit crumbly but other then that it was good. Crust, pudding, toasted marshmallows? Yeah that's s'mores.

S'more Tart
Pudding adapted from Cooking Light

crust
9 whole graham crackers or 18 regular sized ones
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
pudding
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 tbsp cornstarch
hefty pinch of kosher salt
3 cups skim milk
1 cup half and half
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
topping
1 1/2 cups big and mini marshmallows*
kitchen torch necessary

crust Butter a 10 inch tart pan. In a food processor, grind the graham crackers to fine crumbs. In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat until melted and foaming. Add the brown sugar and mix until nearly combined. Remove from heat and add the graham cracker crumbs, mixing until it is combined. Press the crust into the tart pan and allow to cool completely. 

pudding In a medium bowl, whisk the 3 eggs yolks till slightly beaten. Take a large bowl and put a load of ice in it, about half full. Place a medium bowl on top of this ice. In a large saucepan, add the sugars and salt. Sift in the cocoa and cornstarch into the saucepan. Over medium high heat, gradually add the milk and half and half, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and once it is boiling cook for one minute. Keep constantly stirring the whole time. Remove from heat and gradually add it to the egg yolks, stirring constantly. Whisk until it is fully combined and then pour back into the saucepan. Over medium heat, stir the pudding constantly for 5 minutes so it can thicken. Remove from heat and pour into the bowl over ice. Let it cool for 15 minutes, stirring it occasionally. 

assemble Pout the cooled pudding into the cooled crust. Chill in the fridge overnight or for a couple hours. Once it is chilled, assemble the marshmallows on top of the tart. Using your kitchen torch, toast the marshmallow topping. Serve this puppy immediately. Serves about 10.

Little Lemon Tarts

Lovely little lemon tarts, I love. This is not the recipe that I use frequently but this recipe is quicker. The crust is similar to pie crust but with cookie qualities and the filling is creamy but still tart from the lemon. Honestly, I was straight up eating the left over filling. I know, I know, the egg yolks are bad but come on. How could I not?Little Lemon Tarts

crust
2 cups flour
4 1/2 oz. unsalted butter, chopped
2 tsp caster sugar (superfine) sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 egg yolk
filling
4 1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray mini muffins tins with cooking spray or you could butter them. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt together in a bowl and rub the butter in until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, zest, egg yolk and 2-3 tbsp iced water and use a pastry cutter, or knives, until a rough dough forms. Gently knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover in plastic and chill for 10 minutes.
For the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg yolks using electric beaters until smooth and thickened. Add the lemon juice and condensed milk and beat until well combined.
Roll out the chilled dough between two pieces of parchment paper until about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 7 cm fluted round cutter, or in my case a glass, cut rounds from the pastry. I kept a bowl of flour on hand so I could dip the glass in the flour before pressing therefore making an easy removal. Gently press the rounds into the muffin tins and lightly prick them with a fork three times. Bake for 10 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden. Remove from the oven and spoon 2 tsp, or until full, of filling into the little crusts. Return the tarts to the oven for another 5 minutes or until the filling is set. Cool slightly before removing from the tins. Enjoy!
Makes 24 tarts