The Best Mini Pecan Pies for the Holidays
I’m literally drooling as I post this. Pecan Pie is a holiday tradition in our family. For every holiday, my grandma whips up one of her famous pecan pies for the dessert table.
As a kid, I always avoided it. Ew, nuts for dessert?? Until I got a little older and realized, pecan pie is AMAZING! It’s so warm and cozy tasting.
I didn’t have my grandma’s recipe on hand this past week, so I opted to try one of my all time favorite cook’s recipe. See Drummond, aka “The Pioneer Woman” is queen in my book. Remember when I made her cinnamon toast recipe? I’ve literally never made one of her recipes that didn’t turn out amazing. And her pecan pie definitely took the cake, or pie in this case!
Instead of making a giant pecan pie (which would be equally delicious), I made mini pecan pies! I thought they’d be a fun dessert option for our Thanksgiving spread because they’re single serving sized! They’re so cute packed with a ton of flavor!
How to Make the Best Mini Pecan Pies
Pie Crust Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 3/4 cup salted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten in separate bowls
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Filling Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup corn syrup (light or dark)
- 1/3 cup melted salted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 whole eggs beaten
- 1 cup (heaping) chopped pecans
Directions
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- First, make the pie crust. Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Then add the vegetable shortening and salted butter. Work the butter into the flour using a dough cutter or a fork, until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles.
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- Add the egg, 5 tablespoons cold water and the white vinegar. Stir the mixture until just combined. Divide the dough in half and chill until needed. Since the original recipe only uses half of the dough, I used the other half for decorations.
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- Next make the filling. Mix the granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and eggs together in a bowl.
- Spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
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- Preheat your oven to 350 F. Roll out half of the dough on a lightly floured surface. To make miniature pie shells, use a large cup to cut out small disks. Then, press them into the bottoms of your muffin tin. Put a heaping tablespoon of pecans at the bottom of the unbaked pie shells. Then, pour the syrup mixture over the top.
- If you’d like to add decorations to the tops of your pies, use the remaining dough to cut out shapes, make braids or flowers.
- Beat your egg and brush the crust with egg to help it brown without burning. Then, cover the muffin tin with foil.
- Bake the pies for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and then continue baking for another 20 minutes, being careful not to burn the crust or pecans.
- Allow it to cool for several hours or overnight before serving.
