I like all nuts, but pecans are the best. I have a recipe for hot/sweet pecans that’s totally addictive. Not quite the same with other nuts. Cashews are good, too, but I can only eat so many cashews.
RunAmok, pecan tassies are the best! I make them with walnuts sometimes, but they’re so much better with pecans. Do you have a tassie press? They’re less labor-intensive that way. I found a recipe for caramel tassies that got rave reviews from my co-workers.
Dude! Opportunity to double-crop. Get your 12 gauge out, knock off some squirrels and serve 'em roasted and garnished with pee-KAHNS.
Squirrel pie just wasn’t what I was after, plus the 12 Ga tore 'em up purty bad.
Oh, My, dOg, there’s such a thing as a tassie press?! I never heard tell of such, but could definitely use one: Recently I made about 32 dozen tassies for a friend’s wedding, and boy, are my arms tired. (Bah-dum-bump!) Seriously, though, I’d volunteer to make 'em more often if I had a labor saving device for the pastries. (And the caramel tassies sound scrumptious – share the recipe, please!)
I just remembered a sandwich Mama used to make when I was little that was sooooo good: cream cheese and pecans.
And my aunt made the best pecan divinity I have ever eaten. Stuckey’s doesn’t even come close. But they do have a decent pecan log.
pih-KAHN
Each nut has its own place in the culinary world.
Pecan pie
Even though this belongs in Cafe society, I’ll tell you my favorite recipe for pecans.
Take your standard pesto recipe and substitute as follows:
This takes pesto to the next level. 
I’ll second the request for the caramel-tassie recipe, and also ask for the hot/sweet pecans. (How about nuts that are just spicy, not sweet? Anybody?)
In Georgia, it’s definitely PRAY-leens. And don’t forget divinity. It has pecans too.
I like most nuts but pecans are probably my least favorite (except when in a pecan pie). I guess it’s their bitterness and slightly “maplely” flavor or something. My favorite nuts are almonds and pistachios.
If you want to branch out and get nutty and go one step beyond the same old pecan pie might I suggest:
CHOCOLATE-WALNUT PIE
4 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust made from Basic Pie Pastry
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted and allowed to cool
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups broken walnuts
Garnish (optional)
Whipped cream
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a heavy pot on low heat. Pour it evenly into the unbaked pie shell.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter, and vanilla well. Stir in the walnuts. Pour the mixture into the chocolate-lined pie shell and bake until the filling is set, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove to a rack and let cool.
The pie may be made ahead several days, or frozen for up to 3 months. Serve with whipped cream if desired.
Makes 8 servings.
Trust me…this pie will kick pecan pie in the nuts!
32 dozen? :eek: I can’t find a picture of a tassie press online–maybe there’s another name for them. Here’s what mine looks like. You make your little dough balls, stick them in the pan, dust the big end of the tassie press with flour, and squish the dough into the pan. I love it–I can make a lot more tassies that way. Which is good, because they never last very long, so you can never make too many tassies.
You can put almost anything in tassies. One of my favorites was a cheesecake filling topped with lime curd and whipped cream. Easy, and yummy!
Just a note–the dough recipe makes 3 dozen, but the caramel makes 4 dozen. I usually make a couple of batches of dough and make several different kinds of fillings.
Pecan Tassies
1 stick (1/2 cup), unsalted butter, softened, plus 1 tablespoon, melted and cooled
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pecans, chopped fine
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream 1 stick of the butter with the cream cheese until the mixture is light and fluffy, add the flour and the salt, and beat the mixture until it forms a dough.
Form the dough into a disk and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 30 minutes. Press rounded teaspoons of the dough into thirty-six 1/8-cup muffin tins and work the dough evenly onto the bottoms and up the sides of the tins to form 1/8-inch-shells.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a bowl whisk together the egg, the brown sugar, the melted butter, and the vanilla until the mixture is combined well. Divide the filling among the shells, sprinkle it with the pecans, and bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crusts are golden. Let the cookies cool in the tins on racks for 10 minutes, remove them from the tins carefully, and let them cool completely on the racks.
May be made 2 months in advance and kept frozen in airtight containers.
Makes 36 cookies.
Caramel Dream Tassies
14 oz. pkg. caramels (unwrapped)
3/4 c. evaporated milk, divided
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
2/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
ground nuts
Melt caramels with 1/2 c. milk in microwave or double boiler.
Spoon into baked tassie shells, about 2/3 full.
In a small bowl, blend butter and shortening, mixing well.
Set aside for 20 minutes.
In another bowl, blend sugar, remaining 1/4 c. milk, and vanilla.
Set aside for 20 minutes.
Combine the two bowls into a large bowl.
Using a mixer, whip on high until creamy.
Spoon this frosting on top of caramel layer.
Sprinkle with ground nuts.
Makes 4 dozen cookies.
Brownie Tassies
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2 T. butter
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
whole hazelnuts
Melt chips and butter in saucepan over low
heat. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar, egg,
and vanilla. Place a whole hazelnut in center
of each pastry-lined cup. Top with 1 round
tsp. of chocolate mixture. Bake as
directed. Makes about 2 dozen.
When I was a child we went to a cafeteria style restaurant in a little plaza (they weren’t called strip malls in Arizona in the '60s) and I had pecan pie for dessert. It was an epiphany. I realized that this wonderful pie was invented just for me. Yummy, crunchy pecans and that oh so flipping sweet Karo syrup goo filling. I always substitute pecans for walnuts which TheLadyLion approves of but she has no taste for pecan pie.
I have actually caught myself in Costco debating spending more money on pecans as if my grandmother was going to start lecturing me about how tough they had it during the depression. I but the damn pecans now.
