'Cheat Sheet' Mini Pecan Pies

Recently, MummyB had a birthday. Exciting times. We went out and ate Chinese food. It was yum. I made dessert. Being a week night it was a bit hard to find time for a big, fondant covered monstrosity of a cake. Lucky for me, MummyB loves pecan pies. I’m pretty sure she’d eat pecan pies everyday for the rest of her life, if she could without the threat of obesity or heart failure. Being the fabulous daughter that I am, I used my very minimal time to create what I now call ‘Cheat sheet mini pecan pies’.


You will need;
4 sheets of frozen short crust pastry
1/2 cup golden syrup (you may prefer less syrup, this amount makes them very caramel-y)
1/3 brown sugar
½ cup melted butter (no salt)

100 - 120g pecans, roughly chopped

2 eggs
Good glug of vanilla essence!
1 big ol’ can of dairy whip! Or real cream if you prefer. My family like the Dairy Whip cause you can shoot it right into your mouth. Or each other’s face, depending on our mood.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Let your pastry thaw out on the bench before cutting your circles. You will need a 12 hole muffin tray and a circle cutter ( I think I used about a 10cm cutter, but have a play and you’ll find the right size. Keep in mind that the pastry will shrink a bit when cooking, so you should have a little bit of overhang).

Spray your muffin tray with cooking oil then gently mould your circles of pastry to the pan. I loathe under cooked pastry, but even though these are small pies, I still gave them a quick blind bake in the oven before filling. Because I am lazy and dread the idea of rice or baking weights going everywhere in my kitchen (I am possibly the messiest cook ever), I used scrunched up balls of aluminium foil to weight the pastry while baking. Much, much easier. Whack em’ in the oven for 5 minutes or until the pastry starts to flake slightly.

Next up, the filling. In a bowl place the golden syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Once your pie cases are out of the oven and cooled slightly, fill with pecan bits (I used quite a lot. Use your own personal discretion). Then top off with the filling mixture.

Pop them back in the oven for half an hour or until set... Grab a small plate and place the not-so-pretty-looking pies on it. Put the plate right at the front of the fridge, in plain sight, so your boyfriend is distracted by these and does not eat the nice looking pies that you will be giving to your Mumma for her birthday. Makes 12. Super dooper easy, and super dooper tasty.

*yes, I know the photos are shitty. Still no camera.
**yes, I know there were no decent photos of the finished product worth posting
***yes, I know I am a ridiculously messy cook.
**** yes, I know all this makes me a terrible food blogger. I promise to rectify this with the purchase of a new camera once I find myself with a spare weekend, void of any weddings, birthdays, family gatherings, etc.