Pumpkin Pecan Tassies

By cecelia26_

Ingredients

• Cream Cheese Pastry:
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Dash of salt
• Pumpkin Filling:
• 2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Dash of salt
• Pecan Topping:
• 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from thebakingpan.com

Preparation

Step 1

Cream Cheese Pastry:
1.In a medium mixing bowl, using an electric stand mixer or hand mixer, add butter and cream cheese; mix together on medium speed until smooth and thoroughly blended. Use a rubber spatula to scrap down the side of the bowl as needed. Add the flour and salt, mixing just until combined.
2.Pat pastry into a 6 inch disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.
3.Remove chilled pastry from the refrigerator and divide into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place in an ungreased mini muffin pan. Press the pastry against the bottom and up the sides of each cup to form the Tassie shells. Tip: Using one 24-cup or two 12-cup mini muffin pans is ideal. If you have only one smaller pan, keep the extra pastry in the refrigerator until ready to use.
4.Cover filled pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate Tassie shells until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Filling:
1.In a large mixing bowl, add the brown sugar, pumpkin, melted butter, egg, whipping cream, rum, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Use a wire whisk and whisk together just until smooth. Tip: Do not over-mix, and do not use an electric mixer as this will create too many air bubbles in the filling. Set aside.

Topping:
1.In a small bowl, combine chopped pecans, brown sugar, and melted butter. Set aside.
2.Remove the pastry filled muffin pans from the refrigerator. Pour the filling in each cup, filling only about two-thirds full. Don’t over-fill as the filling puffs up while baking. Tip: to make filling the cups less messy, use a liquid measuring cup with a spout to pour the filling. Sprinkle the pecan topping on top of the filling in each cup.
3.Bake: Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown around the edges. Rotate the pans from front to back toward the end of the baking time so the Tassies brown evenly. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes. Run the tip of a small sharp paring knife around the edges of the muffin cups to loosen the Tassies. When Tassies are cool enough to handle remove from the muffin pan and place on wire cooling racks to let cool.