I couldn’t resist the pun, because today I’ve been making dough. Cookie and pastry dough, that is. So far I’ve made cookie dough for a Christmas tree made of stacked star-shaped cookies, Empanada dough for savory mini beef- and chicken-filled pastries (tomorrow’s project) and Pecan Tassies. While waiting for the dough to chill I whipped up a batch of Corn Flake Chews. The recipe for the Pecan Tassies hasn’t been posted on the site yet, so I’ll include it here, but the other recipes are available in the archives.
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Pecan Tassies
Tart Shells
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
Filling
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
To make the tart shells, beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the flour and mix until a soft dough forms. Cover and chill for at least an hour, or overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Shape the dough into 24 balls, each about an inch in diameter. You can use a small cookie scoop to get uniform size. Use an ungreased 24-cup non-stick mini-muffin pan and place one ball in each cup. If you don’t have a no-stick pan, lightly spray a mini-muffin pan with no-stick spray, like Pam. Years ago I bought a wooden tart tamper at a Pampered Chef party and it is perfect for this purpose. Put a little flour in a small bowl and dip the tamper in it, dusting the flat bottom and the entire rounded portion. Use the tamper to evenly press the ball into the pan and shape it against the walls of the cup. Be careful not to press too hard or the bottom of the tart will be too thin an the filling could seep out. Continue dusting the tamper as needed to avoid sticking to the dough. Once the tarts have been shaped, melt the butter in a medium mixing bowl for about 20-30 seconds on high. Put the remaining ingredients in the bowl and mix well. The mixture will be thick and pasty. Fill the tart shells evenly with the mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown. If you have a dark no-stick pan, it may not take as long for the tarts to brown. Remove from the pan and cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container. These are very much like mini Pecan Pies and the crust is nice and flaky.
I made Peanut Butter Cereal Bars and rolled, cut out and baked the Toffee Shortbread cookies that have been refrigerated this week.
I may make some Cream Cheese Mints tonight yet, but I’ll probably call it quits soon and start fresh tomorrow. I am off work all week and the cooking, baking, and candy making commences full time with the count down beginning to our annual open house on Friday night.
Some Enchanted Eating 