Pecan Pie Tartlets

Well, I'm wrapping up my Thanksgiving dishes. I thought I would post a little spin on one of our traditional pies. Here in the South it is very customary to have Pecan Pie on the dessert table (along with about a dozen other items). I decided to try these Pecan Tartlets. These little sweets are just so cute and absolutely worth the time to make them. I will say that the amount of filling was far more than needed for the dough. I suppose that's what happens when you start mixing recipes :) Next time, I will probably double the dough. When I was making this today, my filling cup overfloweth. So I tried a few variations. First I made the recipe that is listed below. Then when I ran out of dough, I tried plain pie crust. I just cut rounds out and fit them in the mini muffin pan. I must say, I did not like the pie crust. They are the smaller tarts in the picture above. They did not look impressive, nor taste impressive. There was just not enough sweetness, and the crust/filling ration just seemed off. But, then again, I like my desserts SWEET. My husband has determined that I like desserts that curl your toes. You can make your own assumption as to what that means :)

Anyways, when I ran out of pie crust, I decided to use some sugar cookie dough that I had in the freezer. That worked well and tasted great. But the original recipe is still my favorite. If you are short on time, I would recommend using sugar cookie dough. But, the recipe below is so good, at some point you should really give it a try. One more plus to these little tartlets: they are freezable! I love things that freeze well. I'm going to freeze whatever is left, if there is any, for a jewelry party I'm having next week. My mother would say I was just "so smart" for thinking of that, I call it a mother of two small children desperate for time! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Pecan Pie Tartlets

Dough:
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 c white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 c dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions
1.In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and butter; blend in flour and salt. Chill for 1 hour. Shape into 1-in. balls; press into the bottom and up the sides of greased mini-muffin cups.
2.For filling, beat the eggs in a small mixing bowl. Add corn syrup,brown sugar, butter and vanilla; mix well. Stir in pecans. Spoon filling into mini cups (no more than 1/2-3/4 full). Bake at 325 degrees F for 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack.