Have you started thinking about what you’ll be baking for the Holidays? My late mother made several types of baked goodies each year. These “Tassies” were one of her specialties. Of course, no one was gluten intolerant, so her’s were made with a traditional flour. Today, I decided to try her recipe, but to substitute the flour for a blend of G-F flours. And happily, they came out great!
You’ll need a mini muffin pan. I’ve never made them in the typical size muffin pan, and since they’re so fragile, I actually don’t think a bigger pan will work. These are flaky and should be gobbled up in one big bite. So, I advise not using larger, since they’ll fall apart when being removed. Since all of the stores are having sales now, discount coupons abound. So maybe consider investing in an aluminum mini-muffin tin. (You don’t need anything special, just a reliable aluminum one) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients:
For the base:
- 3 oz. Cream Cheese (room temp so it’s soft)
- 1 Stick of Sweet Butter (also room temp)
- 1 ½ cups Flour Blend (I mixed 2/3 c. Garbanzo Bean Flour, 1/3 c. Tapioca Flour, ¼ c. Rice Flour and ¼ c. Cornstarch)
- 1 teas. Xanthan Gum
Filling Ingredients:
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 teas. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 teas. Melted Butter (Sweet Butter)
- Pinch Salt
- ½ cup Ground Walnuts (I used a coffee grinder type that’s only used for my baking–no coffee allowed!)
Here we go:
First we make the base. Mix together the Cream Cheese, Butter and then add the Flours and Gum. Take the mini-muffin tin and grease well, being sure to grease the sides as well. (I tried this with mini liners, but the baked product didn’t release well. Stick to greasing the pan)
It will be sticky to handle, but with clean hands, press some dough in each space and up the sides. But you’re making an indentation in the middle. Kind of like preparing a pie crust. Once they’re all lined with dough, set aside. No baking yet!!
Next, Mix the filling:
In a clean mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar with the melted butter, egg, salt and vanilla. This will be very liquidy, but trust me it all works in the end.
Grind up the walnuts, and sprinkle some in each dough-lined space. Spoon some filling batter in each on top of the nuts, and then sprinkle some more walnut on top of the liquid filling.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check them after about 15 minutes. They are done when the outer cookie part is golden and the filling looks “set”. Since ovens vary, keep an eye on them.
When cooled sprinkle with Confectioner’s Sugar as seen in the photo. They are very “crumbly” and flaky. So remove from tin very gently.
