Happy Sunday. So, Thanksgiving is right around the corner! With it, comes the planning and all that fun stuff. My favorite part of planning is recipe testing. 🙂 My older sister Natasha made mini pecan pies years back for the holidays and everyone loved them, so I thought I’d do some recipe developing and came up with these Maple Pecan Pie Bites!
I love pecan pie, but really don’t love how sweet it is usually and all the corn syrup it contains (some recipes had up to a cup and a half!!). So I made this with only 2 tablespoons of corn syrup, and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. The results were very yummy!
It has a light maple-y taste and the cream cheese crust (recipe taken from Pampered Chef! LOVE their crust recipes) that tastes exactly like a soft kolachky dough. I made them into bites instead of a whole pie, because who can resist a cute bite of pie?! Ever since I made these Mini Lemon Chess Pies, I’ve loved the idea of making mini pies. Plus they look very impressive! 🙂
Hope you enjoy this recipe! And hope you’re enjoying this pre-holiday weekend!
Maple Pecan Pie Bites
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 1/2 cup salted butter softened
- 1/2 cup 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp. vanilla bean powder
PECAN FILLING:
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 2 tbsp. light corn syrup
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 24 pecan halves and powdered sugar for dusting optional
Instructions
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For Crust; beat softened butter and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add flour and vanilla powder; mix only until a soft dough forms. Gather into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap; chill in refrigerator for 1 hour 30 minutes or overnight.
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In the meantime, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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For Pecan Filling; whisk together eggs, sugar, syrups, coconut oil, and vanilla in a medium sized bowl until well combined.
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Lightly toast your pecans in a small pan until warm and fragrant. Add your pecans into the egg mixture and stir.
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Spray a 24-sized mini muffin/cupcake pan with cooking spray. Roll out your cold dough into a 1/2-inch thickness. I use plastic wrap sprinkled with flour to roll it out. Cut into circles using a 2.5-inch cookie cutter or jar. Press each circle carefully into each mini cupcake cavity. Re-roll dough as needed and chill until ready to roll. Fill each pie crust with 1 tablespoon of filling. Dipping the pecan halves into the filling, top the pies with a pecan half if desired.
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Bake pies for 15 minutes, or until crusts is lightly browned. Cool pies and use a knife to pop them out. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve!
These look delicious! I’ve been wanting to make something pecan. Perhaps I should try these! 🙂
Awesome! Thank you and if you do try them, hope you like! 🙂
This recipe sounds delicious, Bekah! I love your blog by the way.
New follower by email. 🙂
Jess @ Little Book Heaven
Hi Jess! Thanks so much! I really appreciate it. 🙂
I just followed your blog as well! My sister and I were just oo-ing and aa-ing over your gorgeous header/logo. Love your site and can’t wait to read more! 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting my blog and following!!