If you love a sweet and buttery pecan pie, these Mini Pecan Tarts are sure to be a winner. They have a delectable pecan pie wrapped in small tart crusts. This is ideal for serving to party guests or to take to a potluck or bake sale. You'll have just as much fun making them as you will eating them!
Recipe Essentials
- 🍽️ Course: Side Dish
- ⏱️ Cooking Time: 21 minutes
- 🍴 Servings: 24
- 🧄 Flavor Profile: Sweet, buttery, and nutty with a caramel-like filling and a tender, flaky crust.
- 🍚 Best Served With: Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, coffee, or alongside other bite-sized holiday desserts like mini cheesecakes or shortbread cookies.
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, make the tart dough 1-2 days ahead and keep it chilled.
Summarize and Save This Content On
I adore these pecan pie tartlets not just for their taste but also for their presentation. They are so tiny and cute! I enjoy a slice of classic pecan pie for dessert on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I have found that it's perfect when I have family over.
I love mini versions of classic desserts similar to this one, and some of my favorites are these mini key lime pie bites and my mini peanut butter cheesecakes. My apple pie bites are really good too.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's easier than a full pie: These mini versions are easier to prepare and quicker to bake than a traditional pecan pie.
- It's already portioned: You don't have to worry about slicing or making a mess with these! The mini pecan pies are portioned and ready to serve.
- It's great, warm or cold: Enjoy them cold from the refrigerator or warm them up, they're amazing either way.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients you'll need for the homemade tart crust as well as the pecan filling. It's similar to a classic pecan pie!
- Butter: I use cold, unsalted butter for the crust and melted unsalted butter for the pecan filling. If you use salted butter for either of these components, omit the extra salt included in the recipe.
- Ice water: This ingredient has two purposes: it keeps the butter cold to create flaky layers as the crust bakes, and it also adds moisture without activating more gluten, keeping it from becoming dense.
- Corn syrup: You may use light or golden corn syrup in this mini pecan pie recipe. This keeps the filling from crystallizing, so it remains soft and gooey after it bakes.
- Brown sugar: I like the flavor that brown sugar adds to the recipe. The molasses adds the perfect amount of depth, so each bite is not pure sugar.
- Pecans: Chopped pecans are my go-to because you can ensure that they will be well distributed throughout the filling. Halves are too large for the mini tarts.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Salted caramel: Drizzle some caramel sauce and sea salt on top of the tarts for a lovely salty twist.
- Bourbon: Include a tablespoon of bourbon in the filling for depth and an alcoholic punch.
- Spiced: Use warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to create a lovely spiced version.
If you love these tarts, there's a good chance you'll really enjoy these mini pecan pies. So good you won't stop at just one.
How to Make Mini Pecan Pie Tarts
Here are the instructions on how to prepare and bake these mini pecan pie bites. To get started, grease your muffin tin and preheat your oven to 350 degrees F just before you make the filling.
Step 1: Prepare the dough. Combine the dry ingredients and then cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Then, gradually add ice water until a dough forms.
Step 2: Chill the dough. Next, flatten the dough into a disc and cover it with plastic wrap before you stick it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Roll it out and cut it. Once chilled, roll out the crust on a floured surface and punch out rounds with a 3-inch pastry cutter.
Step 4: Add to the muffin tin. Place each round into the muffin tin, shaping it up the sides. Then poke a couple of holes with a fork, place it in the fridge, and work on the filling while it chills.
Step 5: Mix the filling. Combine all the ingredients for the pecan filling in a mixing bowl until well incorporated.
Step 6: Pour and bake the tarts. Now you can pour the filling into the mini crusts until each is ⅔ full. Then, bake them for 21-23 minutes or until the centers are set, and the crust is golden and flaky. Cool them for 10 minutes and then put them on a cooling rack!
Recipe Tips
- Grease the muffin tin generously: Use oil, butter, or nonstick cooking spray to generously grease your muffin tin. You don't want your mini pecan pies to get stuck and fall apart!
- Don't overwork the crust: add only enough water to form the crust, then gently mix. If you overwork the crust, it will make the tarts dense and dry.
- Try store-bought crust: As a shortcut, you may use store-bought pie crust. Roll it and cut it the same as outlined in the recipe!
If you are looking for another delicious tart recipe, you should try this puff pastry apple tart.
If you enjoy recipes like this with pecans, you may want to check out my pecan upside down cake or my caramel pecan cake. They both really hit the spot,
Storage Directions
- Storing: Store any extra tarts in an airtight container for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezing: Place your pecan. mini tarts gently in freezer bags with parchment paper layers and keep them frozen for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: If you want a warm pecan tart, pop it in the oven for 5 minutes or in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. Thaw frozen tarts at room temperature or bake them straight from frozen at 300 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
Serving Suggestions
- Drizzle some homemade butter pecan syrup on top of your mini pecan tarts as a fun twist, because who said you can't eat dessert for breakfast?
- A scoop of ice cream with one of these tarts would hit the spot. My favorite flavor pairings are gingerbread ice cream and chocolate crunch ice cream.
- Prepare some more mini snacks like mini chicken cordon bleu croissants and mushroom turnovers with cream cheese to complete the party experience.
Recipe FAQs
Underbaked tarts will have a loose filling. Try putting them back in the oven for an additional 3-5 minutes to see if that helps them to set.
Nope! They will bake fully with the pecan pie filling since they are small.
If there are bits of pecan peeking out of the filling, they can burn. Cover the muffin tin with foil for part of the baking time to prevent it from burning.
More Delicious Pecan Pie Dessert Recipes
Do you like pecan pie desserts? Here are some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Mini Pecan Tarts
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour 300 grams
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 sticks butter unsalted, cold and cubed
- 5-8 tablespoons ice water
Filling
- ½ cup corn syrup light or golden
- ½ cup light brown sugar 100 grams, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons butter unsalted and melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix flour and salt.
- Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or fingers until crumbly. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together (5-6 is usually my lucky number).
- Form into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll out on a floured surface to ⅛-inch thick.
- Use a 3-inch cutter to punch out rounds.
- Press each dough circle into a mini muffin tin, shaping it up the sides.
- Chill while making the filling.
- To make the filling, preheat oven to 350F.
- In a bowl, whisk corn syrup, brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
- Stir in chopped, toasted pecans.
- Polk the bottom of the mini pie shells with a fork then spoon filling into each mini crust, about ⅔ full. Don't overfill, they puff while baking.
- Bake for 21-23 minutes or until the tops are golden and the centers are just set.
- Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then gently twist to remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
- Cover these mini pecan pie cups with foil if you notice that the tops are browning too quickly.
- Use store-bought pie crust if you're looking to skip a few steps!
- There's no need to blind bake these mini pie crusts. They bake up perfectly with the pecan filling.
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