Tastes Like Vintage: Pecan Pick-Ups

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Vintage Sunbeam mixmaster by GoodBonesVintageCo

Vintage cookie month continues with another cookie that requires some time, but oh my is the investment paid back in sweetness and bite. Pecan Pick-Ups (also known as Pecan Tassies) are two-bite pecan pies--caramel-rich and nutty in a perfectly moist and flaky crust. They freeze beautifully, perfect for making ahead.

Merry Christmas tray by JunkFromMyTrunk

If you fancy yourself something of a cook, you hope you have one signature recipe that you'll be remembered for. Pecan Pick-Ups are my mother's baking legacy. Sometime in the 1970s, she got the recipe from a friend, and from then on every December she was a one woman Pick-Up factory, with me waiting at the oven end of the production line with fast and greedy fingers. When she died of a heart attack before her time, her other volunteer friends from the Salvation Army in Laconia, New Hampshire stayed up all night baking Pick-Ups for the collation after the service. They arrived on a bus bearing tray upon tray of Pick-Ups and a bundle of photocopies of the recipe.

This recipe makes 24. My mom would often double up on the crust recipe, portion it into balls and store them in the fridge until they were needed. She would sometimes substitute walnuts for pecans in the filling.

Muffin tins by ionesAttic

Pecan Pick-Ups

Crust:
1 3 oz. package cream cheese
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup flour, unsifted

Mix until smooth. Chill. Put a small amount in each  muffin cup and press evenly around sides and bottom.

Filling:
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 eggs

Mix all filling ingredients together well and put one teaspoon into each pastry-lined muffin cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 1/2 hour.