BABY PECAN PIES

A favourite Pinelli and L’Antipasto Deli recipe

125g butter

1 cup flour

½ cup icing sugar

1 cup pecans – each broken in half then half again (not chopped up)

60 g butter, melted

1 egg

1 cup soft brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Place the pastry ingredients into a food processor and mix until the pastry forms a ball. Knead a little into a "sausage"; divide the pastry into 16 pieces and, with your thumb, press each into the base and up the sides of a non-stick (or well greased) mini muffin tin. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the pecans among the chilled pastry cases. Mix the melted butter, egg, brown sugar and vanilla until smooth and "gluey" and spoon carefully over the nuts. Do not overfill the cases.

Bake at 180ºC for 20-25 minutes.

Carefully lift the pies from the tin and cool on a wire rack.

Can be eaten cold but are particularly nice when warmed up and eaten with thick cream for a tiny dessert treat.

The pecans can be substituted for any other nuts or mixture of nuts – hazel nuts are particularly nice but, then, so are macadamias. The pies can also be made in larger patty pan tins.