A twist on the traditional pecan version, these maple walnut tassies are little bites of texture paradise. Soft cream cheese cookie dough cradles a sweet maple-brown sugar walnut filling, and a snowy dusting of confectioners’ sugar is all the decoration they need to be ready for their holiday cookie tray debut. You won’t be able to stop at just one, so it’s a good thing the recipe makes 4 dozen!
One reader, Eileen, commented: “These are just fantastic!! I added the maple extract, and I’m so happy I did. It took it over the top. I love the perfect level of sweetness and the rich cream cheese and butter dough. It complements the filling so perfectly. I will definitely make these again! ★★★★★“
“But Sally,” you may be thinking, “I thought this was Sally’s COOKIE Palooza, and these look like mini pecan pies! Have you finally run out of cookie recipe ideas?” Good question, dear reader! So let’s begin with:
What Are Tassies?
The word “tassie,” I learn, comes from the Scottish slang for a small cup, which in turn originated from the French word for cup, tasse. Baked in a mini muffin pan, these cute cookie cups are made from a soft cream cheese cookie dough, and can hold really any filling you’d like, though pecan tassies seem to be the most common. I actually have a recipe for those in my book Sally’s Cookie Addiction, which is where I started from when developing this new recipe.
(And, for the record, I will never run out of cookie recipe ideas.)
Here’s Why You’ll Love Them:
- Soft, crispy, creamy, nutty, and sweet all in one
- Unlike making mini pies, there’s no rolling out pie dough, cutting circles, and re-rolling
- A dessert recipe that makes a lot!
- They freeze well so you can make them ahead
- So much texture and flavor in one cute little cup
Start With the 5-Ingredient Dough
The dough is made from just 5 ingredients, and comes together easily in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you could certainly use a mixer.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of this dough.
- Sugar: There’s only 1/4 cup of sugar in the dough, as most of the sweetness in these cookies comes from the maple brown sugar filling.
- Salt: Flavor enhancer.
- Cream Cheese: Cream cheese makes the dough extra soft and creamy, which I love in so many cookie recipes, like apricot cream cheese thumbprints and cream cheese sugar cookies. Let the cream cheese soften to room temperature before you make the dough.
- Butter: Make sure you’re using room-temperature butter so it combines easily and completely with the cream cheese. My cookbook version uses cold butter, and that’s fine too, but I found this version produces a softer dough cup.
The dough is similar to the dough I use for rugelach cookies, though that dough is flakier and crisp just like pie crust. Here the dough is soft and tender, almost like a lightly-sweetened cookie.
Place the ingredients in the bowl of your food processor and turn it on. Watch as everything combines into a soft and thick dough at the push of a button:
Divide the dough in half, and flatten each half into a disc. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. (This is the same way I recommend preparing cut-out cookie dough in how to freeze cookie dough.)
How to Shape Tassies
Remove one chilled disc of dough from the refrigerator—one disc is enough for one 24-cup mini muffin pan.
Pinch off a piece of dough, about a scant Tablespoon, or 18g, in size. Roll into a ball and place in a greased mini muffin pan. Press your thumb down into the dough ball to create a deep indent, and shape the dough up the sides of the muffin cup, to create the shell.
Once you’ve shaped the dough cups, place the pan in the refrigerator to keep the dough cold while you make the filling.
TIP: If you have two mini muffin pans, you can go ahead and shape the second disc of dough into tassie shells, but if you only have one pan, leave the second dough disc in the refrigerator until after you’ve baked the first batch and your pan is available.
Make the Maple Walnut Filling
The filling is as easy as the dough, and you need just a mixing bowl and a whisk to make it:
- Eggs: Eggs bind the ingredients together and set the filling.
- Brown Sugar: Molasses-spiked brown sugar is the main sweetener in these maple walnut tassies.
- Maple Syrup: You want that true maple flavor, so use pure maple syrup here, not “pancake syrup.”
- Melted Butter: Adds just a touch of richness, and flavor.
- Vanilla, Salt, & Cinnamon: Flavor-enhancing trio.
- Walnuts: Chop them pretty finely, so you can fit more nuts in each tiny tasse!
One addition I tested and really liked after I took the above photo, was a touch of maple extract. If you have it, go ahead and add some. You’ll love that extra maple flavor. You can find it in the baking aisle of most grocery stores, or online.
Whisk all the filling ingredients together. Easy peasy!
Remove the pan(s) of shaped tassie shells from the refrigerator. Use a teaspoon to spoon the filling into each cookie cup. The amount you can fit in each cup really depends on how deep you indent the dough, so you may have some filling leftover:
The maple walnut tassies bake in about 18–22 minutes. When you’re ready to serve them, dress them up with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar. This little snow flurry is optional, but makes for a sweet and beautiful finishing touch.
The crisp sugared edges, the soft and creamy dough, the crunchy nutty filling… they look so innocent, but they’ll probably be one of the most distractingly delicious cookies on the holiday cookie tray!
Yes, absolutely! You can swap out the walnuts for the same amount of very chopped pecans. Pecan tassies are the original and most common variety of this cookie.
I don’t recommend it, as nuts are the main ingredient in the filling. I haven’t tried the filling with oats, though they could be a fine substitute. For best results, I recommend a different cookie such as peppermint snowballs, shortbread, or brown sugar stamped cookies.
You need a mini muffin pan to hold the shape of the tassies. Unfortunately, you can’t make/shape them without it. The filling is too thin/liquid to use as the filling for a thumbprint-like cookie. A regular 12-count muffin pan is simply too large, and these would be pretty big. However, you can certainly try it and extend the bake time. See recipe Note.
Yes. You can halve the recipe by halving all of the ingredients in the dough and the filling.
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookie Bars
- Peppermint Bark Cookies
- Flourless Monster Cookies
- Maple Cinnamon Cut-Out Cookies
and here are 75+ Christmas cookies with all my best success guides & tips.
Maple Walnut Tassies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes (includes dough chilling)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Yield: 44–48
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These two-bite maple walnut tassies are made up of tender cream cheese cookie dough and a gooey-sweet filling. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top makes for a sweet finishing touch. You can make the dough for the crust ahead of time, and assemble the tassies in advance as well. See Make Ahead Instructions.
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
Filling
- 2 large eggs (cold is fine)
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cups (150g) finely chopped walnuts
- optional: 1/2 teaspoon maple extract
- optional for garnish: confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
- Make the dough: Place the flour, granulated sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse a couple times to blend. Add the butter and cream cheese. Pulse until the dough comes together. **If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a mixer for this step. Mix the dry ingredients together, and then beat in the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until the dough comes together.
- Divide the dough in half (each half weighs about 430g each, or a little less than a pound). Use your hand to flatten each half into a disc, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 3 days.
- After the dough has chilled, lightly grease two 24-count mini muffin pans (I use nonstick spray). If you only have 1 mini muffin pan, you can bake these in batches.
- Remove one disc of dough from the refrigerator (one disc is enough for one 24-count pan). Tear off a scant Tablespoon of dough, about 18g. Roll into a ball, then place in one of the mini muffin cups. Repeat with remaining dough to fill all the muffin cups in the pan. Use your thumb to press down in the center of each dough ball to make a large, deep indent. Place the pan in the refrigerator, and repeat with second disc of dough and second mini muffin pan (or if you only have 1 pan, wait to do this until the 1st batch is done baking). Keep the dough in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, maple syrup, melted butter, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt together until combined. Fold in the chopped walnuts, and maple extract (if using).
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Remove both pans of tassie shells from the refrigerator. Use a teaspoon to spoon the filling into each of the tassie shells. You may have a little filling leftover.
- Bake the maple walnut tassies for 18–22 minutes, or until the shell edges are lightly browned and the filling looks set. Let the tassies cool in the pan for 10–20 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. I use a spoon to help remove the warm cookie cups from the pan.
- Once cooled and just before serving, use a sieve to lightly dust the tassies with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
- Cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the dough ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 day, or freeze for up to 3 months. If using frozen dough, thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using. You can also prepare the maple walnut tassies through step 6 and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 1 day before baking them. Baked tassies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and, if desired, bring to room temperature before garnishing with confectioners’ sugar and serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Processor | Mini Muffin Pan or this one | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack | Fine Mesh Sieve
- Can I Replace the Walnuts with Pecans? Yes, absolutely! You can swap out the walnuts for the same amount of very chopped pecans. Pecan tassies are the original and most common variety of this cookie.
- Can I Make These Nut-Free? I don’t recommend it, as nuts are the main ingredient in the filling. I haven’t tried the filling with oats, though they could be a fine substitute. For best results, I recommend a different cookie such as peppermint snowballs, shortbread, or brown sugar stamped cookies.
- Maple Extract: A touch of maple extract adds exceptional flavor. If you have it, go ahead and add some. You can find it in the baking aisle of most grocery stores, or online.
- Halve the Recipe: You can halve the recipe by halving all of the ingredients in the dough and the filling. Yield is 22-24.
- Can I Make These Without a Mini Muffin Pan? You need a mini muffin pan to hold the shape of the tassies. Unfortunately, you can’t make/shape them without it. The filling is too thin/liquid to use as the filling for a thumbprint-like cookie on a baking sheet. A regular 12-count muffin pan is simply too large, and these would be pretty big. However, you can certainly try it and extend the bake time to about 28-30 minutes.
I love a new recipe, never heard of these before. They were easy to make and the kitchen smelled amazing while they were baking!
These were really yummy! I didn’t get around to sprinkling them with powdered sugar, but they were still delicious 😉
I made this recipe as an alternate for Sally’s September baking challenge, I had no idea how well these would go over at work! They were gone in minutes. I ended up using both chopped pecans and walnuts. I would recommend for sure using the maple extract. I’m for sure making these again for holiday parties, such a hit!
I was delighted to come upon this maple walnut variation to the pecan tassies from an old family recipe been baking
for years. They are scrumptious! Thanks Sally
I followed the Maple Walnut Tassies recipe, which is the alternate recipe for the September baking challenge, but had to use pecans instead since walnuts are a bit hard to find in Mexico. Even with the substitution, the results were fantastic! The dough, made with cream cheese, adds a rich, tender texture that perfectly complements the sweet, nutty filling. The slight tang from the cream cheese really balances out the flavors, making these tassies feel extra indulgent. But my favorite part has to be the smell—hours after baking, my house still smells like a cozy bakery. It’s incredibly comforting and makes the whole experience even more enjoyable. This recipe is definitely a keeper for fall!
Perfect little sweet gems!
Can you make these dairy free without the cream cheese?
Hi Gracelyn, You could try using pie crust instead, and rolling it out and cutting into circles just like we do with these mini pecan pies.
OMG are these amazing! I used pecans instead of walnuts, just a personal preference. I definitely recommend adding the maple extract, it takes it to the next level. I will be making these again!
The recipe is a winner! I admit that I was reluctant to make these tassies. But, I wanted to participate in the baking challenge and this recipe was preferred by the household over the other. I should know to trust a Sally recipe! The tassies were easy to make and turned out to be delicious. I did add the optional maple extract and recommend that you do too. The maple flavor is subtle. The nuts form a slightly crunchy brittle topping over a maple caramel center held in by the delicious cookie. It is an impressive cookie!
These have such a great flavor! Almost like a mini nut (I used pecans) pie. I took them to work and they were demolished!
These are amazing! I used pecans, and they taste like little bites of pecan pie. I have always loved pecan pie but can’t finish an entire piece because it is so sweet and rich….and yet I think I could gobble 12 of these without batting an eye. I can’t wait to bring them for our family Thanksgiving!
Hey Sally + all,
I made these for my extended family and wife + wife’s friends.
I used the larger 12 muffin pans. Baked them at the same temp, but for 29 minutes exactly.
In my experience, you can absolutely use a regular muffin tin to great result. The cookies will just be twice as large, which is a bad or a good thing depending on how health conscious you are.
Use or buy a kitchen scale to portion out the dough before rolling them into balls. It will help make the cookies exactly the same size and uniform baking (scale out 36 grams for each cookie dough before rolling them into balls).
When you’re pressing the cookies down, the bottom of the indentation should be around 1/2 an inch thick so the filling doesn’t leak. I made the space inside each cookie slightly larger to accommodate for the excess filling (this recipe makes 25-30% more filling than is required.
I found the initial recipe, although there is sugar, isn’t very sweet.
What took them over the top was I drizzled your (Sally’s) maple icing over top and then added powdered sugar.
The extra sweetness and maple from the icing absolutely took these over the top.
Cheers Sally, this is another home run.
Absolutely delicious recipe! The dough came together so quickly and easily! And it was devine! I’m so glad I decided to make this month’s alternative challenge!!
This recipe is simple and delicious. It’s not too sweet (I skipped the confectioners sugar dusting). Del was also very forgiving, because it was in the fridge for 2 to 3 days before I had time to bake, and they’re delicious. Definitely making these again!
I halved the recipe exactly and made 23 tassies. They are delicious, and look exactly like the picture, but I have at least twice as much filling as was needed. What else can I use it for? Maybe somebody else has left some ideas in the comments.
Hi Anne, we’re so glad you enjoyed these! Yes, there will be some leftover filling. It was hard to scale down the filling even more, because of the 2 eggs (1 egg wasn’t enough). You could use it to make some mini pies like these mini pecan pies, or even fill inside puff pastry to make turnovers or hand pies like this.
I’ve use raisins instead of nuts. I’m Canadian as raisins are my staple. I plumped them
Can a regular cupcake pan be used?
Hi Arlene, A regular 12-count muffin pan is simply too large, and these would be pretty big. However, you can certainly try it and extend the bake time to about 28-30 minutes.
I made 1/2 the recipe to taste. I found them to be a little dry and not enough room to put enough filling to make them tasty. I made them 8 grams as suggested .. and think they were too small.
Perhaps they needed more than the teaspoon of filling? Pecan pie is one of our favorites so was really hoping these would be great. Any advice.
Hi Denise, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. How did you measure the flour for the dough? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured, which can dry out the tassies. Over baking (even just a minute or two!) can also dry out the dough. You’ll also want to make sure the shaped cups are cold when you add the filling and then put in the oven so that they keep their shape. The amount you can fit in each cup really depends on how deep you indent the dough, so you can certainly try making the indents slightly larger/deeper next time. Hope this is helpful and thank you for giving these a try!
Do you think this would work in tiny tart pans? They look delicious but I need something a little fancier for a wedding event.
Hi Sue, we imagine that should work just fine! Let us know if you give it a try.
These sound so good! Would it be possible to make the filling more like rugelach (apricot jam/walnuts) but skip the maple syrup? Any recommendations on how to do it?
These are wonderful! I just made 150 of them for my son’s wedding. Can I freeze them in ziplock freezer bags?
Hi Moinc, absolutely. Baked tassies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and, if desired, bring to room temperature before garnishing with confectioners’ sugar and serving.
I realized too late that the plan I ordered is “petite” muffins, not mini muffins! They ended up being more like thumbprint cookies than little cups. I’ll have to try again. I would also suggest dividing a dough round into 24 instead of trying to measure spoonfuls. I ended up with 23 from one dough round and it was so annoying haha
Have just taken a batch out of the oven and left them to cool. Took one out of the mould after 20 minutes. The bottom still seems dough-y but the top of the cookie was definitely cooked, brown and crispy with the risk of it getting burnt! Had underrated my oven if at all. Any suggestions?
Hi Shiromee, did the bottoms seem to solidify more as they cooled? If you wish to make them again, you can always tent the pan with aluminum foil towards the end of bake time. This will allow you to extend the bake time a bit but prevent the tops from becoming over baked. Hope you enjoyed these!
Excellent recipe! Made mine in regular muffins with great results! Very tasty and rich texture. Thank you!
Great recipe! Giving it 4 stars because I have more filling leftover than I expected and don’t know what to do
with it. The ingredients are not cheap – walnuts and maple syrup – so I want to use it in some way. I don’t have enough filling to warrant a half recipe of dough.
Hi Catherine, we’re so glad you enjoyed these! Yes, there will be some leftover filling. It was hard to scale down the filling even more, because of the 2 eggs (1 egg wasn’t enough). You could use it to make some mini pies like these mini pecan pies, or even fill inside puff pastry to make turnovers or hand pies like this.
I made these for a NYE party and they were a hit! Took me a few tries to get the shape of the dough just right, but even the ones I didn’t smush enough were delicious. I do have extra filling leftover but I’m excited to either make a half batch of tassies or trying some hand pies.
Another foolproof recipe from Sally! I did end up with a bit of extra filling which I swirled into some pancakes the next morning – so good!
These are great! I won an office cookie competition with them! And they were pretty easy to make and looked very impressive. Thanks Sally!
These are just fantastic!! I added the maple extract, and so happy I did. It took it over the top. I love the perfect level of sweetness, and the rich cream cheese and butter dough. It complements the filling so perfectly. I will definitely make these again!!