Tea Time Tassies

May 13, 2010

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Author Notes: Like baby pecan pies! Except with walnuts! This recipe was given to me on my 12th birthday by Gretchen Payne, a lovely neighbor who was always baking and handing out delicious treats. She knew how much I loved her Tea Time Tassies so when she presented me with an egg carton filled with them *and* the recipe, I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. She, her husband Padgett and daughter Medora would hold a Twelfth Night party every year, and while the grownups would drink cup after cup of Wassail, I would park myself near the cookie trays, inhaling Tea Time Tassies, one after another, until I was practically sick. Good times! Traditionally these are made with walnuts, but pecans work just as well (and really highlight the Tassies' pecan pie-ness.)

NOTE: You will need one or two mini-muffin pans for these. —mtrelaun

Serves: approx. 24

Shells

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick of margarine, softened
1 cup flour

Filling

1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1 dash salt

Preheat oven to 325° F.
Blend softened cream cheese and margarine. Stir in flour. Chill one hour.
While dough is chilling, prepare the filling. Beat together the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, chopped walnuts and salt until smooth.
Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and begin preparing the shells. Shape dough into balls 1" in diameter. Place in ungreased mini muffin pans or little tartlette tins, and press dough against sides and bottom to create the shell.
Fill each shell about 3/4 full with filling. Bake for 30 minutes until set.
Once the Tea Time Tassies have cooled, sprinkle them with confectioner's sugar before devouring them.

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