Jan’s Pecan Tarts

Adapted from a Nutmeg Nanny recipe

Jan was going to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but Myr wanted pecan pie. Jan found a recipe on line, but then pretty much ignored it in making these treats.

Jan wanted to make individual mini-pies, so she ordered pans on line.  They turned out to be much smaller and shallower than she had in mind, but she went with it.

Jan’s Pecan Tarts

She also wanted to use the crust she had created for her Jan’s Five-fold Ginger Pumpkin Pie, but she felt that it was too course for the tiny tart pans. After crushing the gingersnaps with a rolling pin as before, she then ground the course crumbs through a large sieve with the end of the rolling pin to make a fine-sifted ginger cookie meal.

Ingredients

Crust

2 cup Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Snaps, crushed and sifted
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

Filling

3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar – packed
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs
¼ cup cristolized ginger, sliced fine
1 1/2 C. pecan pieces

Directions

1. Mix the cookie crumbs and butter in a small bowl until it forms a thick paste.

2. Pam the tart pans and pack them with a layer of the crust paste.

3. Bake the crusts for about 8 minutes at 400°. Cool completely.

4. In a large bowl whisk the molasses and brown sugar together until smooth.

5. Add the spices and salt and then whisk in the eggs one at a time, until you have a smooth, foamy mixture.

6. Add the rest of the ingredients and give the batter a good mix.

7. Fill the tart crusts with the filling.

8. Depending on the size and number of your tart pans, you may have leftover crust mix and filling.  Jan used the left over crust mix to line the bottoms of a couple of the cups in a cupcake pan.  When she ran out of crust for the left over filling, she started simply dropping in a ginger snap in the bottom of the cup and then packing the filling on top. These cupcakes came out almost as good as the tarts.

9. Bake the tarts for 25 minutes at 400°.

10. Let the tarts cool enough to handle and then pop them out of the pans and put them on a wire rack to cool completely (about 20 minutes or even over night).

11. Hide until serving, as they will start to disappear if left in sight of hungry children.