Mini Pecan Pie Tarts

Confession time: I have never eaten Pecan Pie.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. The only real problem with that statement is that Joe and I were assigned to bring croissants and pecan pie to our fifth annual Friendsgiving dinner. Let's be real for a moment, Joe does not cook so in all reality, I was assigned to bring croissants and pecan pie. Since I didn't have a fool-proof recipe to fall back on, I turned to the interwebs. I ended up finding a pin for this recipe from Bits and Bytes. 

Turns out, it's a winner! 

These little bites got so many compliments throughout the evening. That was quite the feat considering that most of us gorged during the meal and could barely taste dessert by the end haha. The raves seemed to concentrate on the fact that these were just sweet enough.. nowhere near the heavy sugariness of a true pecan pie.

I slightly adjusted the ingredients (based on yield) and they were perfect!

Original recipe from Bits and Bytes, adapted by Spool and Spoon

-INGREDIENTS-

(30 tarts)

Crust:

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened package of cream cheese softened

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups flour, sifted

Filling:

1 ¾ cups pecans, chopped

1 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla

Dash of salt

**You will need a mini muffin pan!**

-DIRECTIONS-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Use a fork (and your hands!) to combine all crust ingredients in a large mixing bowl

Break off a piece of dough (about 2 tablespoons+ worth) and roll into a ball

Smush into the bottom of each muffin opening, being careful to cover the bottom and edges of each cup

In another mixing bowl, blend together sugar, egg, butter, vanilla, and salt

Stir in the chopped pecans

Spoon a tablespoon (give/take) over each crust

Bake for 25-30 minutes until crust is golden and filling has set.

Once pies have cooled, remove from muffin pan and store in an air-tight container

And there you have it, chewy gooey yumminess. If you want a small dessert bite or just something a little different, I'd highly recommend these!

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