This is another one of those Pampered Chef recipes that come in that little $1 cookbook. I have made these for a variety of social gatherings and they have always been a hit. They are great for dessert or as a brunch addition. Just factor in the hour for the dough to firm up. The recipe is done in 2 parts so I am splitting it up totally. The recipe says it yields 30 but I always make 24 (the size of the mini-muffin pan).

Crust:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup flour

Process
Mix the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Then mix in the flour until it is smooth. Then wrap it air tight and put it in the frig for 1 hour but it can stay until overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put walnut sized pieces of dough into a mini-muffin tin. Then use a Mini-Tart Shaper (from Pampered Chef but it is a little wooden dumbbell) dipped in a little flour and press each ball into the tin until is forms a cup. Now it is important that it actually come up around the sides and form a full cup.

Filling:

Ingredients:
2 tbls butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Process:
Mix all the ingredients together and fill each uncooked cup, do not over fill. Bake for 15-20 minutes of until the dough looks golden. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.