Adorable and Delicious: Mini Pecan Pies Recipe

Since I recently attended the Pillsbury Bake-Off, I have been thinking about creative ways to use Pillsbury products quite a bit.

So it should be no surprise that recently I found myself eying a package of crescent rolls, thinking "I wonder if I could pie-ify that". Well, turns out it was amazingly easy--I just rolled out the crescent rolls, cut them out into circles, which I pressed into cupcake liners to form baby pie crusts. Since I love healthy eating, I filled them with a protein-rich pecan mixture (with some sugar and other stuff added, of course).

They came out awesomely.

Basically, these mini treats are like a hybrid between a pecan tassie cookie and a pecan pie. Nice and buttery, and the crescent roll crust is sturdy enough to please crust lovers like me. Bigger than a cookie but smaller than a pie, they made lovely individual desserts that are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the palate.

Mini Pecan Crescent Roll Pies

Makes 6 mini pies Active time: 20 minutes Total time: 1 hour

For the crust

1 tube Pillsbury Original Crescent rolls

For the filling 

• ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed 
• ⅛ teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 6-cup muffin tin.
2. Open the tube of Crescent Rolls dough, and gather the dough into a ball. Using a knife or pastry scraper, divide into six equal parts.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll each portion into an approximately 5-inch circle.  
4. Press each circle into one of the greased cups, and press the sides to reach up about halfway up the sides of the cup. Don’t worry if they look small in there—the dough will rise and you’ll have a nice-sized treat at the end of the baking process. Once each of the cups have been filled, prepare your filling.
5. To make the filling, mix together the brown sugar, salt, chopped pecans, egg, melted butter and vanilla extra with a spoon and then evenly divide it between the dough-lined cups. Try to make sure that the filling does not mound higher than the sides of the dough “cup”.
6. Place the cupcake tin on top of a cookie sheet. Place the sheet in the oven, and bake for 14 minutes, or until the pies are golden on the sides and set in the middle. Note: The filling will bubble quite a bit during the baking process. The baking sheet below the cupcake tin is to catch any possible drips.
7. Remove from the oven, and run a sharp knife along the perimeter of each cup to loosen any sticky bits. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.