A Perfect Hostess Gift

The holiday season is the time we are most often invited to dinners or parties.  The usual guest often arrives with a bottle of wine.  The alternative could be to arrive with a dozen Cranberry Tassies in an egg carton. Tassies are traditional Southern desserts similar to tiny tarts. This hostess gift will guarantee to make you a popular guest even if you don't know anyone at the party.   This version is done in a microwave oven.  I bake the tassies in one carton and  have a clean carton and fresh paper liners to use as the "gift wrap".  If the tassies should emit smoke during cooking, this could be due to inconsistencies in the wattage of different ovens.  If this should happen stop the cooking process for a minute or two.     

Cranberry Tassies:

                               

1 4-ounce package cream cheese

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup brown sugar, packed tightly

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash salt

½ cup fresh cranberries, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped pecans

Soften the cream cheese and 1/2 cup of butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on HIGH 10-20 seconds until the mixture can be stirred easily.  Blend in the flour.  Chill the pastry.  When chilled, roll out into 24 1-inch balls.  Place each ball into a paper liner which has been placed in the egg carton.  Push in the center of the ball with your thumb, forming a depressed area to be used for the filling.  Microwave on HIGH 2 minutes rotating after 1 minute.

Beat together the egg, 1 tablespoon of butter, brown sugar, vanilla and salt.  Stir in the cranberries and pecans.  Place one small spoonful of filling in each shell.  Microwave on HIGH two minutes, rotating once.  Watch carefully, filling will bubble up and may be very hot.  Remove from carton carefully.  Repeat procedure with remaining tassies.  Cool before removing from the carton.

If you plan to deliver them as a hostess gift, you will need a clean carton and fresh paper liners.  When the tarries are cool, take them out of their papers (which are most likely sticky) and put them in fresh paper liners.  Pack them in a clean egg carton and tie with a ribbon.