I have one of the cutest posts for you guys today. I really can’t say that about many of the recipes I make because while they are delicious and look yummy, they aren’t necessarily cute or works of art. Not that I’m saying these tassies are works of art but they took a little more effort than I’d normally put into a recipe! What’s a tassie, you ask? Basically tiny, teeny miniature pies. About two bites worth. This is a recipe that I’ve had forever and used alot when I was catering, which also means I’ve never shared it! But when I saw this idea for the cute flower shape on Pinterest (I know, I know…you thought I was just that brilliant, right?!) I knew this would be the perfect recipe.
You start with a cream cheese crust, which I personally love because it has just a hint of tang from the cream cheese. I rolled the crust out and used a tulip shaped cookie cutter and then very gently pressed them into miniature muffin tins. Be extra careful not to puncture the crust even a little with your fingers/fingernails because the filling will seep through and you’ll have a mess! It happened to me on two of them. Bummer. Anyway, I then filled them with a dollop of raspberry preserves and about a teaspoon of a fudgy, brownie-like filling. Top it with buttercream and a cute M&M and you have tulip tassies! I thought they were adorable. And SO perfect for Valentine’s Day. Truly not difficult to make and not even that time-consuming, just a little extra effort. If you want to skip the cookie cutter, just shape the dough into 24, 1″ balls, place in the bottom of the miniature muffin tins and press down and up the sides of the tin. They’ll still be super cute and every bit as delicious.
Enjoy!
- ½ c. Unsalted Butter, softened
- 4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 c. All-Purpose Flour
- ½ c. Dark/Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
- 2 T. Unsalted Butter
- ⅓ c. Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
- 1 t. Pure Vanilla Extract
- ½ c. Raspberry Jam
- 2 T. Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1 T. Shortening
- 1½ c. Powdered Sugar
- ¼ c. Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 T. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 24 Valentine's M&M's
- Pink Food Coloring (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the flour until the mixture forms a ball around the paddle. Form dough into a ball. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the cream cheese dough to ¼" thickness. With a 3" flower shaped cookie cutter, cut out 24 flowers. Press very gently into the bottom of an ungreased miniature muffin tin. Be very careful not to puncture the bottom of the dough with your fingers when you are pressing it into the tin. (Alternately, you can shape the dough into 24 balls and press each ball evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the mini muffin tins.)
- In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate chips and butter over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar, egg and vanilla. Place a ½ teaspoon of raspberry jam into each muffin tin. Cover with 1 teaspoon of the fudge filling. Bake for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is puffed. Let cool completely.
- Beat the butter and shortening on medium speed until creamy. Beat in the powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Beat in pink food coloring if using. Pipe a small amount of buttercream onto each cooled tassie and top with a Valentine M&M.