My assignment this month for Secret Recipe Club was to make something from bcmom's kitchen. Anna has loads of delicious recipes, but her desserts are particularly mouth-watering.
This recipe for cranberry pecan tassies caught my eye, not least because I'd never heard of a tassie. (Or should that be tassy? I'm on shaky linguistic ground, here, although Google suggests there's a Scottish word 'tassie' meaning a cup, which could be the origin.) Anyway, one of my favourite SRC hobbies is to make something I've never before eaten, let alone baked, so the novelty appealed to me.
I was also intrigued by the method of making pastry with cream cheese, and the combination of textures and flavours sounded like a guaranteed winner.
It's not really cranberry season, but I did have a box of blueberries in the freezer. And since I was making that switch, I decided that almonds would be a better fit than pecans. But I'd definitely like to go back and try the original recipe once I can get my hands on some cranberries.
The result was fantastic. The filling is surprisingly moist, under a crispy top. The cream cheese pastry is slightly softer than my usual shortcrust, and flakier, and (when it's not being overwhelmed by the sweet berries) you can still detect the sharpness of the cheese. We had these for Easter tea and they were a perfect complement to the usual excess of chocolate.
Blueberry & Almond Tassies
Makes 12
For the dough:
110g (4oz) plain cream cheese
55g (¼cup) butter
165g (1 cup) plain flour
For the filling:
110g (¾cup) frozen blueberries
120g (⅔cup) almonds
1 egg
125g (¾cup) soft brown sugar
1tbsp melted butter
1tsp vanilla bean paste
Cream together the butter and cream cheese, and fold in the flour to make a stiff dough.
Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F).
Roughly chop the blueberries and almonds, and combine.
In a clean bowl, beat together the egg, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk until creamy.
Divide the dough into 12 even portions, and roll each piece into a small circle.
Grease a 12-hole bun tin (such as you'd use for fairy cakes) and line with pastry circles.
Divide the berries and nuts evenly between the pie cases.
Spoon the egg and sugar mix over the top, about 1tbsp per tassie.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
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