Pecan Tarts

We had a company potluck last week and I decided to make dessert.  Hubs picked up a great local dessert cookbook from Hawaii when he went back to visit last fall.  I found a recipe in there for pecan tarts.  My sister made pecan tassies using a different recipe a while back and I've always wanted to make them after I tasted how good they were.  I was excited that I could finally put my mini muffin pan to work!  The recipe was quite simple and did not call for a lot of ingredients.  The only time consuming part was having to press the dough into each individual cups.  The recipe yielded 4 dozen tartlets which was more than enough for everyone at work so I had extra to take home and bring over to share with my family.

Pecan Tarts
From Hawaii's Best Local Desserts

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese (8 oz.), softened
1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven at 325 degrees.

Combine cream cheese and butter, mixing until well blended.  Add flour, mix well.  Divide dough into 4 parts; divide each part into 12 balls.  Press each ball onto bottom and sides of miniature muffin pans.

Combine eggs, brown sugar and vanilla; stir in pecans.  Spoon into pastry shells, filling each cup.  Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans.

That's it!  Enjoy!