Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 3 hr (includes cooling)
Ingredients
Ingredients for basic butter cookies
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups pine nuts (1/2 lb)
Special equipment: 2 nonstick mini-muffin pans, each with 12 (1 3/4-inch) cups
Garnish: confectioners sugar
Directions
Follow recipe for basic butter cookies to make dough, then divide dough in half. Divide 1 half (keep remaining dough chilled, covered) into 24 pieces (about 1 1/2 teaspoons each) and form into 1-inch balls. Press each ball evenly onto bottom and up side of an ungreased mini-muffin cup to form a pastry shell (use a piece of plastic wrap to prevent dough from sticking to your fingers). Chill until ready to fill.
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
Whisk together brown sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and salt until blended, then stir in pine nuts. Fill each pastry shell with about 2 teaspoons filling.
Bake tassies until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Run a sharp thin knife around edge of each pastry, then transfer pan (with cookies) to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Remove tassies from pans and transfer to rack to cool completely. Make more tassies with remaining dough and filling.
