I love mini desserts! They made me feel I’m not eating enough at all, like I’m being the good girl I should be when it comes to eating sweet stuff. But who am I kidding? I’ve always been bad when it comes to sweet indulgence, they are the source of my simple pleasures in life. So, I had decided that I will carry on and enjoy them while I can. I am thinking if my sweet addiction will decrease as time goes by, I should probably say when I get older, now there’s the honesty. I hope not, but I am assuming that it would eventually force me to reduce my sweet eating habits, by how much I don’t know. I guess only the weighing scale could answer that, which I am keeping to myself.

Actually, I made this Bite Size Caramel Pecan Pie for a friend of mine, but I took few pieces for myself to enjoy. She loves pecan pies like this is the only dessert left on earth. To be specific, she loves anything with caramel and pecan pie fits the brief. This is so easy to make, and best thing about it is you can make this ahead of time and freeze it (bake or unbake), that is if you can resist eating it. The buttery crust, the salted caramel taste, and the crunch and texture from the pecans is totally irresistible. Good luck on fighting the urge so sneak something for yourself.

You can use store-bought pie crust or you can make your own. I have my Homemade Pie Crust Recipe, they are so easy to make. So no need to rush out to grab it from the grocery, you can make it and be a proud baker of homemade pecan pie.

Pecan pie are normally sweet, because it’s basically just sugar. Sugar in form of brown sugar, and another sweeter like honey, corn syrup or maple syrup. Just thinking that all of this will be in this mini pie shell made me not want to eat them. This is why I made this pecan pie with less sugar and sweeter as possible. This pecan pie is not too sweet, just the perfect sweetness that you will love. Since there is less honey, the pecans stands out more.

I was worried at first that it won’t turn great, but it did not only turned out great, it was amazing!! I can literally keep this entire batch to myself without struggling to finish it. But since I want to share how great this turned out, I shared it with my friends. To make it even better, I melted dark chocolate on top to balance whatever sweetness that you can still find in this pie. But if you don’t feel like chocolate, feel free to skip it. It’s amazing as it is anyway, but double amazing is always better for me, and that’s what chocolate always did for me. Now, let me show you how I did it. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 1 Pie Crust (store-bought or homemade)
• 2 tablespoon Honey or Corn Syrup
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons unsalted Butter, melted
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup chopped Pecans – toasted for 5 minutes
  
• Chocolate Ganache – optional

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast the Pecan for 3 – 5 minutes or until fragrant. Let cool the chop into small pieces. Set aside. Alternatively, you can also use oven toaster to toast the Pecan. Just make sure to pay attention as it gets burn easily. As soon as you start to smell it, take it out from the toaster or oven.
2. Make the Pie Crust or you can use a store-bough pie crust. I used my homemade pie crust. This pie crust is very easy to make and produces a very stable, buttery and flaky crust. Get the RECIPE HERE
3. Roll the Pie Dough: On a lightly floured surface, roll the pie dough to 1/4-inch thick. Using a 3 1/4-inch cookie cutter (or glass), cut out 12 circles from the dough. Place each piece of dough in each muffin cavity of a 12-count mini muffin pan, making sure each piece comes up the sides just a little bit so it doesn’t shrink as much when baked. Transfer the muffin pan in the freezer while you make the filling. You can also make this ahead of time and freeze the pan with the dough overnight.
4. Make the Caramel Pecan Filling:  In a mixing bowl, mix together the honey, brown sugar, melted butter, salt, egg, and vanilla extract until fully combined; then mix in the chopped pecans. Remove the muffin pan from the freezer.
5. Evenly distribute the filling (about 1 full tsp) between all 12 muffin cavities, making sure the pecan pie filling does not come up over the edges of the dough. At this point, you can freeze it overnight for baking the following day or you can bake it immediately.
6. Bake at 350°F for about 20-25 minutes or until the filling is set. When baking frozen pie, add 2-3 more minutes to baking time. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.
7. Cool: Carefully remove the mini pecan pies from the muffin pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Melted Chocolate: Totally optional, but if you want to add a nice touch of chocolate flavor, feel free to drizzle melted dark chocolate on top. I recommend using dark chocolate to balance the sweetness of the caramel filling.

Makes 12 mini pecan pie

 Make-Ahead Tip:

• Baked: Baked mini pecan pies may be frozen for 2-3 months in a freezer bag or container. remove from the muffin thin and cool completely. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature on the counter before serving or re-heat in the oven at 300F for 8 minutes.
• Unbaked: Unbaked tart can also be made ahead of time. Make the pie crust, cut and press it in the muffin tin. Freeze. Make the caramel pecan filling. Pour onto the prepared mini tart pan. Wrap with aluminum foil and freeze overnight. Bake as per instruction, add 2-3 minutes.