Baking for Nightshift...and Helen- Mini Pecan tarts

The boys grandmother has been sick recently and was in hospital for a few days. Happily she has now recovered and I thought I would make her something that I know she loves for a glad-your-feeling-better treat. I make these mini pecan tarts every year for Xmas and I know these are her favourite thing I make. Therefore she has a standard request for them each year. They are easy to make and taste really lovely and they also make wonderful Xmas gifts. The nuts can be varied depending on what you have in the cupboard. This time I made double the quantity so I could take some into work tonight, so I made pecan and walnut tarts as I didn't have enough pecans. 


The pastry is made quickly in a food processor until it forms a ball which you just push together to make sure it isn't too dry. I have never had to alter or add anything here so the quantities of each ingredient are perfect just keep that processor going until it does form a ball and you will end up with something that looks like this...

I use my digital scales to measure how much pastry I will need. I find that around 20 gms gives the perfect amount of pastry for each mini tart.

Out of the freezer

Quite possibly one of the best things I have ever bought was a wooden tamper from Millys which means you can roll a ball of pastry, put it in the greased or oiled tin and instead of mucking about trying to line it by hand you just push the tamper in to give the perfect thickness. These are very cheap and an absolute must for making these easy and quick to prepare. I also have the standard size one and I think they even have a Texas size one too.

I forgot to take progress photos so here is a quick one taken with the oven door open

Cooling on a rack

A couple of tips... turn them in the tins as soon as you can. I find that leaving them for a few mins is ok and doesn't kill my fingers; the mixture doubles well; remove them from the tins as soon as you can or they will be hard to take out; oil the tins well; finally try to hold yourself back from eating lots of these.


Mini Pecan/Nut Tarts


Pastry


125 gm cold butter
1/2 c icing sugar
1 c flour


Process until a ball forms then line about 16-18 mini muffin tins which have been pre greased (I use spray oil). Freeze or refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.


Filling


1 egg
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
60 gms melted butter


Mix together well.


Into the prechilled cases put in some finely chopped nuts. Pecans are best but a mix of other nuts is great too. Then top with some of the mixture but be careful to not overfill the cases.


Bake at 180 C for around 20-25 mins.


AS soon as you can give them a little twist in the tin to release the pastry. Then remove them to a rack as soon as you can lift them out. You can see that some of my bases stuck but they can be put together easily enough. It was that particular tin I used I think.