nut cups recipe
having made four batches this season, i've pretty much got my grandmother's nut cups ("pecan tassies" to the rest of the world) dialed in. since several people have expressed interest, here's the recipe:
grandma B's nut cups
start to finish: 3 hours. working time: 30 minutes. yield: 24 nut cups. recipe can be doubled if you have enough pans.
special implements required: a mini tart shaper and two 12-cup or one 24-cup non-stick mini muffin pans
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, fully softened
3 oz cream cheese, fully softened
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
2 oz melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
cream together butter and cream cheese until fully blended. (i use a kitchenaid mixer, which makes the dough a snap.) turn the mixer down to the lowest speed, and add the flour slowly. mix on low speed until a dough ball forms and starts pulling the last bits of dough off the walls of the bowl. turn out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap / cling film, form into a disk, wrap tightly, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (i've chilled it for up to two hours with no ill effects.)
place oven rack in middle of oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix together the pecans, brown sugar, coconut, melted butter, egg, and vanilla to form a thick wet filling. (you don't need the stand mixer for this; i use a spatula and a large prep bowl.) fill a small prep bowl with flour.
cut the chilled dough into quarters; re-wrap three quarters and put them back into the fridge. cut the working quarter in half, then roll each half into logs and cut them into thirds, so you end up with six equal lumps. roll each lump into a ball and drop it into a muffin cup, pressing down gently to seat in the middle of the cup.
dredge one end of the tart shaper in the flour, rolling it around to coat the entire ball, then tap off any excess. place the floured end of the tart shaper on a dough ball and press down firmly; the dough will rise around the ball of the nut cup. revolve the tart shaper gently to push the dough walls out to fill the muffin cup. (they will be imperfect; some of the bottoms will be slanted, some will be off-center, sometimes the dough will rise more on one side than the other. i don't obsess about it.) repeat with each dough ball, flouring and tapping off excess flour between every one, otherwise the dough starts to stick to the tart shaper, and it all goes downhill from there.
repeat the previous two paragraphs for each of the remaining dough quarters, working with one quarter at a time and leaving the rest to chill. once all your cups are formed, drop the filling into them by scant teaspoonfuls; i make sure i have enough to go around and then distribute any remaining filling to even out any that were short on the first run.
bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until the visible edges of the dough cups are lightly golden brown. i start checking them after 20 minutes, but it usually takes 24-25 minutes for them to get appropriately browned.
once you pull them out of the oven, they are much easier to remove from the muffin pans while they're still warm-to-hot. let them cool for a maximum of 5 minutes, then gently twist each nut cup until it loosens and can be lifted out of the pan. if the filling has bubbled over, remove those first, because once the sugar cools and hardens, it's a real bear to get loose! (any overflow filling that bakes onto the pan can be soaked off. this is why nonstick is my friend.)
as a side note, i just shipped a batch of these cross-country as a treat for a friend and discovered that they're the perfect size to fit into a styrofoam egg carton; i cut 3"x3" squares of wax paper to line each egg cup, then just dropped the nut cups in!
grandma B's nut cups
start to finish: 3 hours. working time: 30 minutes. yield: 24 nut cups. recipe can be doubled if you have enough pans.
special implements required: a mini tart shaper and two 12-cup or one 24-cup non-stick mini muffin pans
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, fully softened
3 oz cream cheese, fully softened
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
2 oz melted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
cream together butter and cream cheese until fully blended. (i use a kitchenaid mixer, which makes the dough a snap.) turn the mixer down to the lowest speed, and add the flour slowly. mix on low speed until a dough ball forms and starts pulling the last bits of dough off the walls of the bowl. turn out onto a large sheet of plastic wrap / cling film, form into a disk, wrap tightly, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (i've chilled it for up to two hours with no ill effects.)
place oven rack in middle of oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix together the pecans, brown sugar, coconut, melted butter, egg, and vanilla to form a thick wet filling. (you don't need the stand mixer for this; i use a spatula and a large prep bowl.) fill a small prep bowl with flour.
cut the chilled dough into quarters; re-wrap three quarters and put them back into the fridge. cut the working quarter in half, then roll each half into logs and cut them into thirds, so you end up with six equal lumps. roll each lump into a ball and drop it into a muffin cup, pressing down gently to seat in the middle of the cup.
dredge one end of the tart shaper in the flour, rolling it around to coat the entire ball, then tap off any excess. place the floured end of the tart shaper on a dough ball and press down firmly; the dough will rise around the ball of the nut cup. revolve the tart shaper gently to push the dough walls out to fill the muffin cup. (they will be imperfect; some of the bottoms will be slanted, some will be off-center, sometimes the dough will rise more on one side than the other. i don't obsess about it.) repeat with each dough ball, flouring and tapping off excess flour between every one, otherwise the dough starts to stick to the tart shaper, and it all goes downhill from there.
repeat the previous two paragraphs for each of the remaining dough quarters, working with one quarter at a time and leaving the rest to chill. once all your cups are formed, drop the filling into them by scant teaspoonfuls; i make sure i have enough to go around and then distribute any remaining filling to even out any that were short on the first run.
bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until the visible edges of the dough cups are lightly golden brown. i start checking them after 20 minutes, but it usually takes 24-25 minutes for them to get appropriately browned.
once you pull them out of the oven, they are much easier to remove from the muffin pans while they're still warm-to-hot. let them cool for a maximum of 5 minutes, then gently twist each nut cup until it loosens and can be lifted out of the pan. if the filling has bubbled over, remove those first, because once the sugar cools and hardens, it's a real bear to get loose! (any overflow filling that bakes onto the pan can be soaked off. this is why nonstick is my friend.)
as a side note, i just shipped a batch of these cross-country as a treat for a friend and discovered that they're the perfect size to fit into a styrofoam egg carton; i cut 3"x3" squares of wax paper to line each egg cup, then just dropped the nut cups in!