I had sketched out my list of recipes at the beginning of this  12 days of cookies challenge – but once I saw Jerry’s post on the Pecan Tassies, I knew I had to have them.  A cookie that’s a cake and pecan pie all in one? Impossible, but true!

They are beautiful little pastries.  They don’t strike me as cookies necessarily, but who’s quibbling over titles? The ones with more filling were better – I wasn’t as even with the distribution of crust and filling as I would have liked.  Next time, I’m adding a little bourbon instead of the vanilla, and maybe an extra glaze of cinnamon-sugar over the top.

On my 12 cookie scale, I’m putting these somewhere around the 6-7 range. Definitely not as craveable as some, but a respectable holiday treat.

(recipes after the break)Pecan Tassies
from Gourmet, April 1985

ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 oz. cream cheese, slightly softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

equipment:
electric mixer, 2 mini-muffin tins

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together 1/2 cup of butter and cream cheese with electric mixer. Add flour in small batches and continue mixing until dough forms a ball. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces. Grease the muffin tins. Press dough pieces into discs with the palms of your hand and line the sides and bottom of muffin cups with dough.

2. In a small bowl beat the egg with the brown sugar. Stir in the pecans, remaining butter, vanilla and salt. Divide filling among pastry-lined tins, about 1 teaspoon in each.

3. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the filling is puffed slightly and pastry is golden. Let cool completely before eating.

Visit my fellow sugar-spiced chefs: Jerry at Cooking by the Seat of my Pants, Judy at No Fear Entertaining, Sandy at At the Baker’s Bench, Courtney at Coco Cooks, Kelly at Sass and Veracity, and Andrea at Andrea’s Recipes.