Nut Cookie Tartlets Recipes

TINY PECAN TARTS

Steps:

• To Make Pastry: Cream butter or margarine and cream cheese. Add flour and mix well. Make into 48 balls; place one ball in each cup of a mini tart pan. Use your fingers or a tart tamper to press out into a tart shell.
• To Make Filling: Break the eggs, but do not beat. Add sugar, melted butter, salt, vanilla and pecans. Mix well. Fill the tart shells. Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until delicately browned.

PINE NUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, fennel seed, and salt in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and mix just until blended.
• Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape the dough into an 8-inch-long log. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line heavy large baking sheets with a silpat or parchment paper. Cut the dough log crosswise into 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick slices. Transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly apart. Press the pine nuts decoratively atop the cookies. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, about 15 minutes.

CARAMEL NUT TARTLETS

Steps:

• Make shells:
• Preheat oven to 325°F. and spray tartlet pans with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl whisk together yolk, water, and vanilla. In a food processor pulse together flour, sugar, and salt until combined well. Cut butter into 1/4-inch pieces and scatter over flour mixture. Pulse mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
• Add egg mixture with motor running and pulse just until dough forms a ball. Turn dough out onto a work surface and with heel of hand press dough together just until smooth and cohesive.
• Form dough into fifty 1-inch balls. Press balls into bottoms and up sides of tartlet pans, making 1/8-inch-thick shells (if working in batches, keep remaining dough chilled). Trim any overhang and with a fork prick bottom of each shell several times. Transfer shells in pans to shallow baking pans. Gather scraps together and make more shells in same manner.
• Bake shells in batches in lower third of oven, checking after 6 minutes for signs of blistering (if necessary, prick dough with fork to deflate any air pockets), 15 minutes total, or until surface of crust is no longer shiny and dough appears set and golden. Cool shells in pans on racks until cool enough to handle and gently remove shells from pans. All shells should be baked before proceeding. Leave oven on.
• Make filling:
• In a large shallow baking pan toast nuts (if using hazelnuts, keep separate from other types) in one layer in middle of oven until golden, about 15 minutes. (To skin hazelnuts, wrap nuts while still hot in a kitchen towel and let steam 1 minute. Rub nuts in towel to remove loose skins; do not worry about skins that do not come off.) Cool nuts completely and in a food processor pulse until coarsely chopped. In a 2-quart heavy saucepan heat sugar, water, and corn syrup over low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Boil mixture, without stirring, until golden. Remove pan from heat and add cream (use caution; mixture will bubble up and vigorously steam), stirring carefully with a wooden spoon until combined well. (If lumps form, return pan to low heat and stir caramel until smooth.) Transfer caramel to a bowl to cool and thicken, about 10 minutes. Add nuts, stirring to coat.
• Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons filling into each shell. Tartlets keep, in one layer in airtight containers at room temperature or chilled, 3 days.

NUT COOKIE TARTLETS

Steps:

• To make Pastry: Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add the 6 tablespoons white sugar, 2 cups flour and blend well.
• Shape into balls about 1 inch in diameter (flour palms of hands to facilitate rolling). Place ball in greased tartlet pan and flatten. Should fill pan by 3/4.
• To Make Filling: Mix together vanilla, egg, brown sugar, and chopped nuts.
• After flattening ball in tartlet tin make a thumb print in center and fill with a full 1/2 teaspoon of nut filling.
• Bake in a 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 17 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan.

TRUFFLE-FILLED COOKIE TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Shape level tablespoons of dough into 2-1/2-in.-wide patties. Press onto bottoms and up the sides of greased mini-muffin cups., Bake until set, 8-10 minutes. Immediately press a deep indentation in center of each with the end of a wooden spoon handle. Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely., For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, combine chocolate chips, cream and butter; cook and stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from heat., In a small bowl, whisk a small amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; return all to pan, whisking constantly. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and a thermometer reads at least 160°, 15-17 minutes. Do not allow to boil. Immediately transfer filling to a bowl; cool 20 minutes, stirring occasionally., Spoon 1 tablespoon filling into each crust. Top with sprinkles. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

WALNUT CUPS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line mini muffin pans with paper liners.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter and flour until a dough forms. Roll into 1 inch balls and press them into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared muffin cups.
• In a small bowl, blend together the egg, butter, vanilla and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in walnuts. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups, but do not fill all the way to the top or the mixture will bubble over.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the crusts are golden.