Nut Tassies Recipe

This recipe for nut tassies first appeared on my blogspot blog in December 2010.

There are traditions to keep and traditions to make your own, like pecan tassies. This is a Southern sweet – tassie is a Scots variation of “cup” and a pecan tassie is a small cup of pecan pie filling, a tasty two-biter, rich and sweet.

Each December, I make tassies with Georgia pecans, and they occupy a coveted corner on my cookie plates. This year, I decided to part with tradition and use macadamias and rum.

You know the part of “A Christmas Memory” where the fruitcakes are done and Sook gives Buddy and Queenie (the dog) some of Mr. Haha Jones’ whiskey and they dance in the kitchen and feel the Christmas spirit? Well, if I’ve learned anything this year, it’s to take the recipe as a suggestion, drink the whiskey and dance in the kitchen.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Macadamia-Rum Tassies Recipe

If you can’t get past the idea of messing with traditional Pecan Tassies, just sub pecans for the macadamias and vanilla for the rum (and tell your friends the recipe came from your cousin Sook.)

Pastry

1 3-ounce package cream cheese

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling

1 egg

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon rum

2/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1. Combine cream cheese, butter and flour in mixing bowl. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for one hour. After one hour, remove from refrigerator and shape into 22 balls. (As much as I want this recipe to make 24, I’ve never managed to get the dough to stretch that far. See if you can do it:)). Press each ball into a cup of a mini-muffin pan.
2. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. For filling, beat egg with brown sugar, add melted butter, rum and macadamias. Pour into shells, just a spoonful in each because they puff when they bake. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in a covered container at room temperature.

More A Cook and Her Books Recipes

No shortage of sweets on my blog. Give my Fig Skillet Cake a try when you have fresh figs on hand. My Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Biscoff Crust is a winner of a recipe, too.

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