First, I have to declare that I am a pecan pie snob. For a pecan pie to be truly great, in my opinion, it has to have the perfect ratio of crust, filing and pecans. If the pie is crust heavy, the sweetness of the filling gets lost. If the filling is too thick and gelatinous well…the pie is just a hot mess.

This critiquing reminds me of a variation of one of my favorite sayings: “those who can’t do, critique.” I can’t make a perfect pecan pie which is why this recipe is the answer to the pecan pie dilemma. Mini pecan pies (or pecan tassies as my mom called them) make it impossible to get the ratio wrong.

I have no idea where this recipe came from. The recipe card in my mom’s recipe box carries no clue. All I can tell you is that as long as I remember, these pecan tassies were a holiday and party staple in our house. My mom took them everywhere. Every holiday party. Every family gathering. Family reunions. Work potlucks. And no one could eat just one. I can even see the container she carried them in…a huge 70s yellow Tupperware plastic bowl with a white lid.

My mom loved to buy pecans around Corsicana, Texas. As kids we hated shelling pecans, but we knew the reward was these pies. The week before Thanksgiving or Christmas, mom would double this recipe (the recipe makes 4 dozen), and she would churn out 8 dozen pecan tassies. We were forbidden from even sneaking one. She would tell us “if y’all eat them all, you will be shelling more pecans.” The threat alone kept us from even trying to sneak one. When we would show up with her and her tassies, people would say to us “you are so lucky to have a mom who makes these. Y’all must eat them all the time.” My brother, sister and I would just nod our heads and look at each other, full well knowing we had better hit the dessert table before anyone else did if we wanted to eat our own mother’s dessert.

So here’s the recipe. They are super easy to make. The perfect pecan to filling to crust ratio is down to a science. But make sure you sneak one or two for yourself as soon as they cool…otherwise they will be gone before you know it.

Merle Mitchell’s Pecan Tassies

For the crust:

– 1 cup butter, softened

– 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

– 2 1/2 cups flour

Prepare the crust:

1. Beat 1 cup butter with 1 package cream cheese with mixer until creamy

2. Slowly add flour to butter mixture. Beat at slow speed until forms a dough.

3. Shape mixture into 48 balls. Place balls on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for one hour.

For the filling:

– 1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

– 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

– 2 eggs

– 2 tablespoons butter, melted

– 2 tsp vanilla extract

– pinch salt

Prepare the filling:

1. Whisk together all the filling ingredients.

Prepare the tassies:

1. Grease muffin tins with vegetable shortening.

2. Place 1 dough ball into each muffin cup. Use fingers to shape dough into a shell. The crust shell will only go about half-way up the muffin tin cup.

3. Spoon approx 1 rounded tsp of filling into each crust shell.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.

5. Let cool about 10 min and remove.