Traditional vs Keto: Pecan Tassies

 

The family holiday kitchen traditions continue, with more cookies and more trying to avoid misbehaving.

For the better part of my existence, The Bat had been baking pecan tassies for Christmas, mostly using this recipe (see photos immediately below, click to embiggen), from Charlotte Erickson's The Freezer Cookbook. 

 But this year, a number of my family members – myself included – have headed into the murky world of low-carb eating. Considering my food allergies and intolerances, you'd imagine that finding foods I can enjoy eating might be… um… challenging.

It is.

And I'm up for that challenge, this season. 

So, here we are, looking through a few websites for instruction on how to make a reasonable facsimile of real, good eats with fake sugar. And here's my current variation on a theme: 

 

Simple Pecan Tassies, made keto friendly

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 3/4 cups extra-fine blanched almond flour
3/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
6 Tablespoons powdered erythritol sweetener (I used Swerve)
6 Tablespoons cream cheese (straight from the refrigerator, no need to warm to room temp
9 Tablespoons cold butter (unsalted)
3 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons whipping cream
1 cup erythritol brown sugar substitute (again, I used Swerve)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

Directions:
Assemble all the ingredients for the crust in a food processor, and give it a whirl until it forms a sticky dough and starts to ball up. Remove from food processor, divide & form into two fat sticks, 12 inches long, wrap in plastic or non-stick parchment, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Line mini-muffin tray with silicone cups, spray with oil (keto cookies tend to stick badly, so this is a necessity).

For the filling, in a small mixing bowl, combine 2 eggs and vanilla, whisk well. Set aside.

In a small saucepan on medium heat, mix 4 Tbs butter, 4 Tbs whipping cream, and brown sugar substitute. Stir constantly as it boils, until brown sugar dissolves (about 5-8 minutes). 

To add the syrup to the egg, temper the egg by briskly stirring with whisk while pouring about 1/4 cup of sugar/cream mixture in a very thin stream, whisking constantly. Once you're sure you haven't curdled the egg, whisk in the rest of the sugar mixture, then add pecans.

Preheat oven to 325º F. 

Take one of the tubes of dough out of refrigerator, slice into 1/2 inch thick disks. Roll each disk into a ball, press into mini-muffin cup, then, with a greased melon baller, small shot glass, tart tamper, or fingertips, form a deep indentation in the dough to make a cup.*

Using a couple of tea spoons or a 1-teaspoon cookie scoop, fill each with the pecan-sugar mix.

Bake first batch about 15-18 minutes. 

Cool completely before trying to extract from pans & cup liners.


Repeat assembly and baking process with second dough stick and remaining filler. 



*I do this – the baking in two batches part – because I have only 24 little muffin cup liners. If you have more, or you want to gamble they won't stick in non-lined gem pans, feel free to do the whole batch at once, but I still recommend leaving the second tube of dough in the fridge until the first portion shaped, filled, and ready to bake. You ought to be able to get the whole 32 tassies done at once, under those circumstances.

As you can see, they aren't as gooey in the middle as those made with regular sugar and flour, but they're tender and pecan-y and not overly-sweet like the originals. Personally, I could nosh on these all day, but more than anything, I'm looking forward to seeing how the family feels about them.



NOTE: I realize some people don't have huge families who will help eat four dozen of these babies, so here are workable proportions for a "singles batch". You'll have more filling than you probably need, so you want to form really deep reservoirs in the dough, and be wildly generous. They can hold up just fine, once baked and cooled. 

for the crust:
3/4 c almond flour
1/4 c coconut flour
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 Tbs powdered sugar substitute
2 Tbs cream cheese, chilled
3 Tbs unsalted butter, chilled
1 large egg
pinch salt

for the filling:
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs cream
1/2 c brown sugar substitute
3/4 c chopped pecans