Whether you want to call these mini pecan pies or giant pecan tassies, they are the perfect little pre-portioned dessert for holiday gatherings (or for keeping in your freezer for when you want a little treat). But the best part is that these Mini Dark Chocolate Pecan Pies are incredibly easy, so if you’re intimidated by pie baking, this is an excellent place to start. Pecan pie tends to be a little too sweet for me, so I added a little bitter dark chocolate to balance the extremely sweet caramel-y filling. I also experimented with adding a pinch of flakey sea salt to the top of a couple of the pecan pies, which was quite delightful!
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What Kind of Chocolate Should I Use?
I used a 70% dark chocolate made by Moser Roth (sold at Aldi). If you want to go darker you can, just be mindful that the darker you go the more bitter it gets. The chocolate I used comes in a package with five mini bars, 25 grams each, and I used three out of the five. You can use more or less as you see fit.
How to Store the Pies
You can keep these Mini Dark Chocolate Pecan Pies in the refrigerator for up to four days, or, once completely cooled, place them in a freezer bag and freeze them up to four months.
Mini Dark Chocolate Pecan Pies
Servings 12 Mini PiesIngredients
Crust
- 8 Tbsp salted butter, room temperature ($0.75)
- 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature ($0.60)
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour ($0.13)
- 1 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
Filling
- 75 grams dark chocolate, divided ($1.19)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten ($0.26)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar ($0.36)
- 1 Tbsp melted butter ($0.09)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.14)
- 2/3 cup pecan pieces ($1.69)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Beat together the butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. Once combined, add 1 cup flour the sugar, and beat again until combined. The mixture may look dry and crumbly, but should stick together when squeezed with your hands. Form the mixture into a ball, adding an extra tablespoon or two of flour if it becomes too sticky.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. The easiest way to do this is to first divide the dough into four equal-sized pieces, then divide each of those into three. Roll each piece into a ball, then place each one in the well of a regular-sized muffin tin (NOT a mini muffin tin). The muffin tin does not need to be greased.
- Use your fingers to press the dough balls into the bottom and up the sides of the muffin tin wells. It’s okay if the dough does not reach the very top of the well. Make sure to press it deep into the corners, to avoid rounded thick corners. Place a dime-sized piece of chocolate into each of the shaped pie crusts. I used about 50 grams of the chocolate in the bottom of the pies, and the rest was used to drizzle on top after baking.
- To make the filling, add the beaten egg, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla, and pecans in a small mixing bowl. Stir to combine, avoiding beating the mixture too much or causing frothy air bubbles.
- Spoon the mixture evenly between each of the pie crusts. The filling will only fill each pie crust about half way, but will puff up as it bakes. Once filled, place the muffin tin in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- Once the pies are baked, melt the remaining 25 grams of chocolate. You can melt it using a microwave, heating for 15 seconds at a time and stirring well after each heating, until melted, or by placing a small bowl over a double boiler. Once melted, drizzle the chocolate over each pie.
- Allow the pies to cool completely, then use a small knife to gently lift them out of the muffin tin.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Love mini pies? Check out my Mini Pumpkin Pies or my Mini Broccoli Cheddar Quiches!
How to Make Mini Pecan Pies – Step by Step Photos
Start by preheating the oven to 350ºF. Beat together 8 Tbsp (one stick) of room temperature butter and 4 oz. of room temperature cream cheese until they are evenly combined.
Add 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 Tbsp sugar, and beat again until the mixture looks loose and crumbly.
Although the dough may look dry, it should stick together when squeezed with your hand. Shape the dough into a ball, adding another tablespoon or two of flour if it becomes too sticky.
Divide the dough into 12 equal-sized pieces. The easiest way to do this is to first divide it into four equal pieces, then divide each of those into three pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, then place each one in a well of a regular sized muffin tin (not a mini muffin tin). Use your fingers to press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the wells. Make sure to press it deep into the corners to avoid rounded thick corners. This will help it extend further up the sides, too. Place one small dime-sized piece of chocolate in the bottom of each pie crust.
Next make the filling. In a bowl combine one slightly beaten large egg, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp melted butter, 2/3 cup pecan pieces, and 1 tsp vanilla.
Stir these ingredients together with a spoon, trying to avoid vigorous beating or causing it to get frothy or form too many air bubbles.
Spoon the filling into each of the shaped pie crusts. It will only fill each one about half way, but it does puff up as it bakes.
Bake the Mini Pecan Pies for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
Melt the remaining 25 grams dark chocolate either by microwaving in a small bowl for 15 seconds at a time, stirring well each time until it’s melted, or by placing the bowl over a double boiler. Once melted, drizzle the chocolate over each mini pecan pie.
Allow the mini Dark Chocolate Pecan Pies to cool, then use a knife to gently lift them out of the muffin tin. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate for four days, or freeze for four months.
I made these last year, and they were a huge hit. Can’t wait to make (eat) them again this year!
I added the extra flour plus a whole extra cup and My dough just kept being sticky and never was crumbly. What could have gone wrong?!
Wow, that’s highly unusual after doubling the amount of flour. The only thing I can think of is the butter or cream cheese may have been mis-measured?
I just noticed a typo in the ingredients: “1 Tbsp metled butter”.
Thanks, Mel! It’s fixed. XOXO -Monti
Would baking chocolate squares work for dark chocolate? I imagine they would be more bitter of course, could we add a little extra sugar to compensate?
You could probably do that. :)
Okay, these are amazing. I don’t even like pecan pie, or chocolate that much for that matter, but when I saw these I had to make them. I made a half batch for just me for Thanksgiving and ate them over the weekend….I have another half batch in the oven now. A lot of the recipes here are not very sweet and this one benefits greatly from it. One of the worst things about traditional pecan pie is how when you’re eating it it’s so sugary it feels like you’re choking. This is beautiful and light and perfect. I skip the drizzle because of the aforementioned aversion to chocolate and I use one whole bar for the bottoms of the half batch.
Can you make more mini pies with different fillings?! I know there’s a pumpkin pie and this one, but i love how easy these are and would love to see more types!!
Those are the only two I’ve tried so far! I’ll have to brainstorm some more ideas. :)
might i suggest mini sweet potato pies? maybe one with marshmallows and one standard version without them?
OMG, that would be so cute!! Thank you for that idea! :)
Incredible! I would leave out the chocolate drizzle or cut down on the chocolate inside next time, but that’s just for other people who don’t like so much chocolate. For me – perfectly wonderful and chocolatey!
I love these so much. Wondering if you could use this recipe and make a full sized pie…
I’m sure it could be done, although I’d need to try it before offering up any suggestions on how to do it. :)
Would this work with a pumpkin pie filling??
I haven’t tried that, so I’m not sure. :)
I gave the pumpkin filling a go and it turned out alright! The filling needs a little more time to bake than the one in this recipe so the crust got quite golden (but not burnt at all) but ultimately, turned out great! It tasted awesome with the cream cheese crust. It may benefit from a quick blind bake so there’s no “soggy bottom” from the more wet filling but all in all, my testers (aka my family) said they were great (although I think they prefer the original with the the pecans and chocolate).
That’s so funny because I was actually making the pumpkin version for the blog this week, too! The blog post for it will be posted in the beginning of November. :)
Awesome! I added an extra 1/2 more filling because… I felt like it, lol. They turned out great. Bottoms were a little raw, so once they cooled, I flipped them upside down, outside of the muffin tin and toasted the bottoms under the broiler until golden. I’m definitely making these again next year.
These were the star of the show at Thanksgiving…so pretty and delicious and chocolatey. The size was perfect for our small sized holiday, and the extras have frozen and thawed beautifully throughout the week. Another excellent Budget Bytes recipe. :)
If you like pecan pie and you like chocolate these are for you. Come together super easy and taste great. I think I found my new favorite
Hi, I was wondering if the base recipe for the pie crust could be used for mini pumpkin pies? Most of the recipes I’ve seen for mini (muffin sized) pumpkin pies cook at 400* for ~20 mins. Would that bake temperature and length of time work for the piecrust in your recipe?
Thank you in advance for the help! I love all of of your recipes and your website has been my main cooking resource for many years. :)
Hmm, that one is a bit too hard for me to predict without actually testing it. But if you decide to give it a try, please let me know how it turns out!
Hi there! Planning on making the bite size version of these for Thanksgiving. It says they can be frozen, how do you recommend doing that and thawing them? Thanks!
To thaw, just leave them out at room temperature until they’re thawed. It shouldn’t take long because they’re so small, maybe 30-60 minutes. :) To freeze, I just waited until they were completely cooled to room temperature, then placed them in a gallon-sized freezer bag.
This looks awesome! I was wondering if I could convert this to make in mini muffin tins instead of full sized muffins. I am guessing it would work, just needs shorter cooking time. What do you think? Also, have you ever added bourbon? If so, how much to keep the consistency right? THANKS!
Yes you could definitely make them in mini’s just watch the bake time. And you could add bourbon too!