As I write this, I am sitting on the couch under a blanket, feet up on the ottoman. A big hot cup of Irish Breakfast tea sits on the end table and the Christmas tree is in front of me in all its decorated glory. The babies are down for their nap – no crying or calling for me – and Rachel is out on a lunch date with her friends, something she doesn’t get to do all that often. The house is finally quiet on this cold, grey, wintery Sunday.
The tea is necessary. While playing in Toddler’s room, winding down before their naps, I nearly took a nap myself on the floor. We were playing with Pooh Bear, Owl, and Tigger. Pooh was leading on an adventure. Only Pooh wasn’t doing a particularly good job, because the Daddy who was moving him kept nodding off on the floor. The first time I dozed Toddler Boy kindly said, “Daddy, wake up.”. After the 3rd or maybe 4th time though he commanded pretty loudly, “Wake up!” Hahahah. I sat up after that. Poor kid, just wanting to go on an adventure with Pooh Bear only to have a very sleepy Daddy holding things up.
On to the recipe…
These Pecan Tassies come from Angela of SpinachTiger.com, our Secret Recipe Club assignment this month. They were mouth-wateringly fantastic. Sweet pecans and brown sugar wrapped in a buttery, flaky mini crust. Like a little bite of a heavenly pecan pie. Delicious.
The Pecan Tassie’s post was actually the very first one Angela shared on her blog on Christmas Day 2008. Angela said this is her favorite Christmas Cookie. It’s a tasty cookie to be sure, but what makes it extra special for Angela is her memories associated with the recipe. She first tasted it at her neighbor’s house. The neighbor kindly shared the recipe, and Angela and her brother James spent all night baking them together. Angela bakes this recipe every Christmas, as it’s become a tradition now, and brings back memories of her brother James. Angela concludes her post saying, “The power of sharing recipes, sharing food, sharing memories moves me to be here and share my food life with you.”
That philosophy resonants strongly with me, especially at this time of year. In past years I’ve shared family recipes like my Great Grandmother’s Cheese Pie and my Mom’s Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies, recipes that typically only come out this time of year, and thus have a string of warm fuzzy memories attached to them.
This morning I baked chocolate chip cookies with the boys. I had no reason to bake them other than I wanted to bake with the boys. Our 2 1/2 year old helped, as usual, by holding the measuring cups and spoons and dumping the ingredients in after I poured them. But this time our 14 month old “helped” too, as I put a teaspoon in his chubby little hand, poured the vanilla extract into the spoon, and helped him pour it in. Cherished memories to be enjoyed long after the chocolate chip cookies are gone (and to be sure, they are almost gone).
So pull out your baking trays and whip up some cookies. You should really check out Angela’s pecan tassies (or one of the many tasty sounding recipes on her blog) and bake up some new memories of your own. Enjoy!
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Pecan Tassies
Ingredients
Pastry
12 oz. cream cheese
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
FILLING INGREDIENTS
2 cups pecans, divided 1¼ cup and ¾ cup
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1½ cups brown sugar
Instructions
Cream butter and cream cheese. Add salt to flour and mix together to form pastry dough.
Roll into 48 small one inch balls. Refrigerate for at least one hour. In the meantime, make filling.
FILLING INSTRUCTIONS
Lightly toast 2 cups pecans.
Chop ¾ cup and grind or finely chop remaining pecans. I used a magic bullet nut grinder, but be careful not to make into a paste.
Mix “ground” nuts into filling mixture. Reserve chopped nuts.
Press pastry balls into non-greased mini-muffin pan. I use a pestle to make room for filling and press in. Assemble by putting a a tiny bit of chopped nuts first and then top with filling.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Note From Angela: I tried making these “tart” size and I wasn’t entirely happy. I learned that you can do if you use very small tart shells, use less pastry per filling ratio and use only chopped pecans, not ground
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http://thekeenancookbook.com/dessert/pecan-tassies
Recipe from: Spinach Tiger