Buttery pecan tartlets

I made these for my daughter Alexis, she was out of town and it was her birthday the following day. I was up early Saturday morning taking stuff out of the refrigerator so it can get room temperature, getting my measurements out I was so excited to start on these cute little cups of buttery sweetness. After seeing the pictures that I took of the tarts I was so reluctant to send them to her by I did and she made me promise her that I would make her her own little stash.

They're so easy to enjoy by the finger full and just as easy to get carried away with while munching so be caring and share....NOT!!!

...they present very beautifully, no fuss and stay well in an air tight container but, I'm not sure how long they'll last in your home because these were gone the same day.

Thanks to the nice folks at Land O'Lakes for sharing their recipe, although I made some add in's the taste is still awesome plus I had to make do with what I had in my cabinets at 4 o'clock in the morning...so here we go.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED...

any changes I've made will be noted with an asterisk (**)

this recipe yeilds 36 tartlets I ended up with 27...the directions says to use a TBSP of the shell mix per mini cup.

THE SHELLS...

~1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened

**I used the microwave to help speed things along

~ 1/2 cup white sugar

~1 egg

~ 1 + 1/2 tsp. almond extract

**I actually added in one capful that was close to about 1/2 tsp.

~ 1 + 3/4 cup all purpose flour

THE FILLING...

~ 1cup confection sugar (powder sugar)

~ 1/2 cup butter

~ 1/3 cup dark corn syrup

** I didn't have dark corn syrup do I had to create a dark color and used a mixture of food colorings

~ 1 cup chopped pecans

~ ** 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

~ ** 1 tsp butter flavor

~ 36 pecan halves 

**it tried the candied pecan on several of the tarts which had mixed reviews

...on your mark

...get set

...BAKE!!!

• heat oven to 400°

• ** I used a electric hand mixer to combine ALL the shell ingredients at medium speed for 2 minutes and mixture is crumbly (max 3 minutes)

• use between 1/2 - 3/4 Tbsp of mixture per mini muffin cup and press mixture to form the shell ( I used my vitamin bottle cap side to press the dough down and around the cup then the butt of a butter knife to finish)

• Bake for 7 minutes or until lightly browned (10 minutes max)

• Remove from oven and reduce oven heat to 350°

Now...

• in a medium saucepan whisk together ALL filling ingredients EXCEPT chopped pecans and pecan halves

• Cook filling over medium heat about 4 minutes stirring frequently until full boiling point (max 5 minutes)

• Remove from heat add in chopped pecans

• Spoon hot filling into cooled shells and top with pecan halved

• Bake for up to 5 minutes, remove from oven, cool on rack, then remove from pan

....and ENJOY!!!