Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 3 hr (includes cooling)
Tassies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes about 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
For shells
For pine nut filling
Special Equipment
Preparation
Make shells:
Step 1
Follow recipe for basic butter cookies to make dough, then divide dough in half. Divide 1 half (keep remaining dough chilled, covered) into 24 pieces (about 1 1/2 teaspoons each) and form into 1-inch balls. Press each ball evenly onto bottom and up side of an ungreased mini-muffin cup to form a pastry shell (use a piece of plastic wrap to prevent dough from sticking to your fingers). Chill until ready to fill.
Make filling:
Step 2
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
Step 3
Whisk together brown sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and salt until blended, then stir in pine nuts. Fill each pastry shell with about 2 teaspoons filling.
Step 4
Bake tassies until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Run a sharp thin knife around edge of each pastry, then transfer pan (with cookies) to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Remove tassies from pans and transfer to rack to cool completely. Make more tassies with remaining dough and filling.
