Pecan Tassies

These are what I've been looking for.  The Pecan Bars I posted a few weeks ago got a lot of attention, but they weren't right.  They were expensive to make, and had too much sugar and fat.  Remember, nine sticks of butter total??  Sure, they were tasty -- hard not to be with butter, sugar, pecans, and chocolate -- but food should leave you craving a little more, not feeling weighed down and in need of a cleansing fast.  These tassies are little bites of pecan pie.  What appeals to you more?  The plentitude of big bars dipped in chocolate, or petite one-bite tassies?  In terms of taste, the tassies win hands-down and more closely resemble pecan pie.

Mini-muffin tin on the left, and fluted tartlet pan on the right.

The crust is great, flaky and just slightly tangy due to the cream cheese.  Like all mini-tarts, they take a little bit of time to put together rather than one large tart or pie.  I used a mini-muffin pan, and also a fluted square tartlet pan (the push-up bottoms make for easy removal).  The square wells are a little bigger than the recipe calls for, so I cut the dough into nine squares instead of a dozen for that pan.  The baking times stay the same.  The filling is whipped up in a flash.  I top each tassie with a whole pecan for garnish, and for more crunch and pecan flavor.  This version, it's a keeper.

Pecan Bars

I spent almost my whole life thinking I didn't like pecan pie.  I love pies filled with fruit, or chocolate cream, or pumpkin, but nuts in gooey caramel?  Didn't sound like my thing.  But when I finally tasted pecan pie for the first time last year, I was hooked.  I learned the error of my ways.  The deep, smooth sugary filling combined with the pecans was irresistible.

Don't bother decorating the top with nuts. They fell off after baking, even though I pushed them into the filling.

When I got the idea to try pecan pie in bar form, this Barefoot Contessa recipe popped up first in my online search and had hundreds of raving reviews.  But the endorsements also had complaints about messes in the oven, the cost, and the fat.  Nine sticks combined for the shortbread and filling??!  And I wish someone had spelled out the cost.  The pecans were about $15 a pound and two pounds were needed, but thankfully I found them for $8 a pound in the bulk bin at another store.  The many positive reviewers said the cost was worth it -- or maybe just as a splurge for the holidays.

To avoid  the spillage and mess that people described, I used two taller baking pans instead -- 10½ by 7 by 2 inches, and 12¾ by 8 by 3 inches.  The baking times stay about the same.  My sheet pans did not have the required 1 inch in height, and I correctly estimated that 1 inch could not possibly hold all the bubbling filling.  I also lined the pans with foil and then parchment.

Clockwise from top left: Woman in a hoopskirt outside Fort Warren on Georges Island; girls manning the fort walls; a powder magazine; these hobbit hole-looking structures opened out to a view of the ocean on the other side.

So, that health factor?  There's a healthier chocolate pecan bar recipe from The New York Times.  I wasn't happy with a recipe I tried from the column once and figured if you're going to have a pecan bar, have a pecan bar -- and then give away most of them.  I brought them to my book club's outing to Fort Warren at Georges Island.  The Civil War fort matched up with our read for the month, Gone With the Wind, and the pecan bars seemed to fit the southern theme.  My friends loved them, and were amazed at the weight of each square.  It was like carrying a brick.  I enjoyed them also, but I thought they tasted more like toffee bars and less like pecan pie.  It wasn't quite what I had been looking for, and it was also very rich.  Maybe pecan pie is next on my baking list.