Maple Walnut Tassies – Sally’s Baking Dependancy

A twist on the normal pecan model, these maple walnut tassies are little bites of texture paradise. Tender cream cheese cookie dough cradles a candy maple-brown sugar walnut filling, and a snowy dusting of confectioners’ sugar is all of the ornament they must be prepared for his or her vacation cookie tray debut. You gained’t have the ability to cease at only one, so it’s an excellent factor the recipe makes 4 dozen!

“However Sally,” you could be pondering, “I believed this was Sally’s COOKIE Palooza, and these seem like mini pecan pies! Have you ever lastly run out of cookie recipe concepts?” Good query, pricey reader! So let’s start with:

What Are Tassies?

The phrase “tassie,” I be taught, comes from the Scottish slang for a small cup, which in flip originated from the French phrase for cup, tasse. Baked in a mini muffin pan, these cute cookie cups are comprised of a smooth cream cheese cookie dough, and might maintain actually any filling you’d like, although pecan tassies appear to be the commonest. I even have a recipe for these in my ebook Sally’s Cookie Dependancy, which is the place I began from when creating this new recipe.

(And, for the report, I’ll by no means run out of cookie recipe concepts.)

Right here’s Why You’ll Love Them:

• Tender, crispy, creamy, nutty, and candy multi functional
• Not like making mini pies, there’s no rolling out pie dough, chopping circles, and re-rolling
• Recipe makes so much!
• They freeze effectively so you may make them forward
• A lot texture and taste in a single cute little cup

Begin With the 5-Ingredient Dough

The dough is comprised of simply 5 components, and comes collectively simply in a meals processor. Should you don’t have a meals processor, you could possibly definitely use a mixer.

1. Flour: All-purpose flour is the bottom of this dough.
2. Sugar: There’s just one/4 cup of sugar within the dough, as a lot of the sweetness in these cookies comes from the maple brown sugar filling.
3. Salt: Taste enhancer.
4. Cream Cheese: Cream cheese makes the dough additional smooth and creamy, which I like in so many cookie recipes, like apricot cream cheese thumbprints and cream cheese sugar cookies. Let the cream cheese soften to room temperature earlier than you make the dough.
5. Butter: Be sure you’re utilizing room-temperature butter so it combines simply and utterly with the cream cheese. My cookbook model makes use of chilly butter, and that’s effective too, however I discovered this model produces a softer dough cup.

The dough is much like the dough I exploit for rugelach cookies, although that dough is flakier and crisp similar to pie crust. Right here the dough is smooth and tender, nearly like a lightly-sweetened cookie.

Place the components within the bowl of your meals processor and switch it on. Watch as every little thing combines right into a smooth and thick dough on the push of a button:

Divide the dough in half, and flatten every half right into a disc. Wrap every disc in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. (This is similar manner I like to recommend getting ready cut-out cookie dough in the best way to freeze cookie dough.)

How one can Form Tassies

Take away one chilled disc of dough from the fridge—one disc is sufficient for one 24-cup mini muffin pan.

Pinch off a bit of dough, a couple of scant Tablespoon, or 18g, in measurement. Roll right into a ball and place in a greased mini muffin pan. Press your thumb down into the dough ball to create a deep indent, and form the dough up the perimeters of the muffin cup, to create the shell.

When you’ve formed the dough cups, place the pan within the fridge to maintain the dough chilly whilst you make the filling.

TIP: You probably have two mini muffin pans, you possibly can go forward and form the second disc of dough into tassie shells, however in the event you solely have one pan, go away the second dough disc within the fridge till after you’ve baked the primary batch and your pan is obtainable.

Make the Maple Walnut Filling

The filling is as straightforward because the dough, and also you want only a mixing bowl and a whisk to make it:

• Eggs: Eggs bind the components collectively and set the filling.
• Brown Sugar: Molasses-spiked brown sugar is the principle sweetener in these maple walnut tassies.
• Maple Syrup: You need that true maple taste, so use pure maple syrup right here, not “pancake syrup.”
• Melted Butter: Provides only a contact of richness, and taste.
• Vanilla, Salt, & Cinnamon: Taste-enhancing trio.
• Walnuts: Chop them fairly finely, so you possibly can match extra nuts in every tiny tasse!

One addition I examined and actually preferred after I took the above picture, was a contact of maple extract. You probably have it, go forward and add some. You’ll love that additional maple taste. You could find it within the baking aisle of most grocery shops, or on-line.

Whisk all of the filling components collectively. Simple peasy!

Take away the pan(s) of formed tassie shells from the fridge. Use a teaspoon to spoon the filling into every cookie cup. The quantity you possibly can slot in every cup actually is determined by how deep you indent the dough, so you might have some filling leftover:

The maple walnut tassies bake in about 18–22 minutes. Whenever you’re able to serve them, gown them up with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. This little snow flurry is elective, however makes for a candy and exquisite completion.

The crisp sugared edges, the smooth and creamy dough, the crunchy nutty filling… they appear so harmless, however they’ll most likely be probably the most distractly scrumptious cookies on the vacation cookie tray!

Print

Maple Walnut Tassies

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  Writer: Sally
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  Prep Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes (contains dough chilling)
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  Cook dinner Time: 20 minutes
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  Whole Time: 3 hours, quarter-hour
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  Yield: 44–48
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  Class: Cookies
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  Technique: Baking
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  Delicacies: American

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Description

These two-bite maple walnut tassies are made up of tender cream cheese cookie dough and a gooey-sweet filling. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar on prime makes for a candy completion. You may make the dough for the crust forward of time, and assemble the tassies prematurely as effectively. See Make Forward Directions.

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Directions

1. Make the dough: Place the flour, granulated sugar, and salt within the bowl of your meals processor. Pulse a pair instances to mix. Add the butter and cream cheese. Pulse till the dough comes collectively. **Should you don’t have a meals processor, you should utilize a mixer for this step. Combine the dry components collectively, after which beat within the butter and cream cheese on medium velocity till the dough comes collectively.
2. Divide the dough in half (every half weighs about 430g every, or rather less than a pound). Use your hand to flatten every half right into a disc, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours, and as much as 3 days.
3. After the dough has chilled, flippantly grease two 24-count mini muffin pans (I exploit nonstick spray). Should you solely have 1 mini muffin pan, you possibly can bake these in batches.
4. Take away one disc of dough from the fridge (one disc is sufficient for one 24-count pan). Tear off a scant Tablespoon of dough, about 18g. Roll right into a ball, then place in one of many mini muffin cups. Repeat with remaining dough to fill all of the muffin cups within the pan. Use your thumb to press down within the middle of every dough ball to make a big, deep indent. Place the pan within the fridge, and repeat with second disc of dough and second mini muffin pan (or in the event you solely have 1 pan, wait to do that till the first batch is completed baking). Hold the dough within the fridge whilst you make the filling.
5. Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk collectively the eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup, melted butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt collectively till mixed. Fold within the chopped walnuts, and maple extract (if utilizing).
6. Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Take away each pans of tassie shells from the fridge. Use a teaspoon to spoon the filling into every of the tassie shells. You might have a bit of filling leftover.
7. Bake the maple walnut tassies for 18–22 minutes, or till the shell edges are flippantly browned and the filling appears set. Let the tassies cool within the pan for 10–20 minutes earlier than transferring them to a wire rack to chill utterly. I exploit a spoon to assist take away the nice and cozy cookie cups from the pan.
8. As soon as cooled and simply earlier than serving, use a sieve to flippantly mud the tassies with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
9. Cookies will keep contemporary in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 1 week.

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Notes

1. Make Forward & Freezing Directions: You may make the dough forward of time and retailer within the fridge for as much as 1 day, or freeze for as much as 3 months. If utilizing frozen dough, thaw within the fridge in a single day earlier than utilizing. You too can put together the maple walnut tassies by step 6 and maintain them within the fridge for as much as 1 day earlier than baking them. Baked tassies freeze effectively for as much as 3 months. Thaw within the fridge and, if desired, deliver to room temperature earlier than garnishing with confectioners’ sugar and serving.
2. Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Meals Processor | Mini Muffin Pan or this one | Glass Mixing Bowls | Cooling Rack | Positive Mesh Sieve
3. Can I Substitute the Walnuts with Pecans? Sure, completely! You possibly can swap out the walnuts for a similar quantity of very chopped pecans. Pecan tassies are the unique and most typical number of this cookie.
4. Can I Make These Nut-Free? I don’t advocate it, as nuts are the principle ingredient within the filling. I haven’t tried the filling with oats, although they could possibly be a effective substitute. For finest outcomes, I like to recommend a unique cookie similar to peppermint snowballs, shortbread, or brown sugar stamped cookies.
5. Maple Extract: A contact of maple extract provides distinctive taste. You probably have it, go forward and add some. You could find it within the baking aisle of most grocery shops, or on-line.
6. Halve the Recipe: You possibly can halve the recipe by halving the entire components within the dough and the filling. Yield is 22-24.
7. Can I Make These With out a Mini Muffin Pan? You want a mini muffin pan to carry the form of the tassies. Sadly, you possibly can’t make/form them with out it. The filling is simply too skinny/liquid to make use of because the filling for a thumbprint-like cookie on a baking sheet. An everyday 12-count muffin pan is just too giant, and these could be fairly large. Nevertheless, you possibly can definitely attempt it and prolong the bake time to about 28-Half-hour.

Key phrases: maple walnut tassies