Cashew tassies

In my chats with people, there seems to be this mutual agreement that while October moved at a nice, healthy clip, November has been zooming by.  We just finished celebrating my husband's birthday and now, we're looking forward to Thanksgiving just a few days away.

We'll be gathering with family and just sitting around to eat, talk, and be in the moment.  This holiday season, from now until Christmas and New Years, I'm determined to enjoy myself, stress less, and just savor the moments.   I look back at last year feeling like I had a little too long of a to-do list, too much of an agenda during the last 2 months of the year.  This year, I'm going to chill a little bit more and when it comes to cooking and baking, I plan to stick closer to old favorites and keep homemade gifts simple.  

That doesn't mean I won't try a few fun recipes that call out to me.  Here's one I made that I thought would be a great dessert option for Thanksgiving or a dinner party.  You often hear of pecan tassies but since my family and I are not huge fans of pecans, I substituted it with one of our favorites - cashew nuts.

I used cashews (ground in the crust and chopped in the filling) in this recipe instead of pecans

"Tassies" refer to the Scottish word for "little cups" and these are basically little tart cups filled with a filling of cashew nuts, sweetened with good things like maple syrup and brown sugar.  It's got the warm flavors you associate with autumn and pie, plus a small presentation that's so nice for times like Thanksgiving when everyone has already enjoyed a big meal and might want to savor smaller bites at dessert (or make room for a greater variety of dessert on their plate).  In any case, if you love small bites and mini desserts like I do, these little tassies are a nice dessert anytime. 

For those a little pie-phobic like me and anxious about making crusts, the crust for these tassies is very easy to make.  Cream cheese - and butter - give it a lovely tenderness.  The dough is easy to handle and you simply roll out small balls and press each into mini muffin tins.  I substituted a little of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour with no problems.  

The filling is even easier to make.  Stir together an egg, the brown sugar and maple syrup I mentioned, a tablespoon of butter, and a good amount of toasted cashews, and simply fill the cups and bake.  The finished tassies pop right out of the tin.

These end up with a tender pastry and a sweet - but not too sweet - filling loaded with toasted cashew flavor.  I made these to enjoy for our "mini" or pre-Thanksgiving dinner at home, just the three of us.  On the actual day, we're getting together with more family and I'm simply on dessert duty.  I'm bringing an ice cream pie and a chocolate-hazelnut torte but now that I've auditioned these little cashew tassies, they just might be a contender for next year's gathering.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!


I saw this recipe, originally for pecan tassies, on Martha Bakes a while back and thought it looked so easy.  Happily, that's just how it turned out to be!  I've never made tassies before so it was a lot of fun to try something a little different.  And Thanksgiving was the perfect time to give these a test drive so here we are!

This recipe makes exactly 18 tassies, baked in mini muffin tins.

Mix the ingredients for the dough - cream cheese (you could also use mascarpone), butter, flour (I used a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour), salt, and half a cup of finely ground cashews.  Needless to say, you must toast the cashews and its best to buy them un-toasted and do it yourself for maximum flavor.  A dough will come together that you can simply pinch off to make small 1-inch balls from.  Plop it into a muffin tin cavity and use your thumb to press it up and around the muffin cups.

Divide the filling among the cups.  Make sure to fill it evenly with the sweet maple liquid that binds all the coarsely chopped cashew nuts.  

In about 22 minutes, you'll smell the nutty sweet aroma in the air.  The tassies will be lightly golden.  Let sit on a wire rack until fully cooled and I found they popped right out of the ungreased muffin tins.

These tassies are easy to make, adorable to look at, and certainly enjoyable to eat.  I adore the sweet, buttery, luxurious taste of the cashew nuts.

They're also easy to pack up and transport.  You can also place them in an airtight container for a couple of days in the case of leftovers.  I'm also going to freeze a few, since I hear nut tassies freeze well, and experiment with that.  

Happy feasting, entertaining, and living!

Recipe:

Cashew Tassies
Adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe for pecan tassies

- Makes 18 - 

For the dough:
1/2 cup toasted cashews
1/2 cup (4 oz.) cream cheese or mascarpone, at room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or substitute with more all-purpose flour)
Pinch of salt

For the filling:
1 large egg
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cashews, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make dough: Place cashew nuts in a food processor or small chopper and process until finely ground.  Set aside.  Place cream cheese or mascarpone and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined.  Add flour(s), ground cashews, and salt.  Mix together just until a dough starts to come together.  Avoid over-mixing and finish by hand with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula if necessary.  

Roll dough into 18 one-inch balls.  Press each into the bottom and up the sides un-greased mini muffin tins cups.  

Make filling: Whisk egg, maple syrup, vanilla, butter, and salt together in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the chopped cashews.  

Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling into each muffin cup.  Bake tassies until the crust begin to turn golden, about 20-22 minutes.  Remove from oven to a wire rack and let cool completely.  Unmold (the tassies should slide right out) and place on a serving platter.  You can store the tassies in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 3 days.