For three years, I rented booth space at our convention hall’s local holiday market, worked harder than I’ve ever worked, and served thousands of these delicious Mini Pecan Pie muffin samples (along with other items) to shoppers near and far.
One bite of these rich, mouth watering muffins and I sold pre-packaged mixes of these by the hundreds for a hefty price tag. I remember wondering if they would sell because they aren’t the prettiest thing, but I knew a free sample would be all that it would take. Yes, they are that good!
I just never realized at the time how incredibly easy they were to make from scratch.
I mean SO easy!! Whip them up in minutes, easy! I feel just a tad guilty now being so frugal and all. I should have known that any baked goods with butter, sugar and pecans equals utter goodness. For years, I wanted to recreate them and this recipe is it.
When I visited my friend and she served them as well, I asked her for her recipe to compare and they were nearly identical, so I knew the recipe had been nailed. Yes, this piece of scratch paper has seen years of good wear and tear. I definitely should have shared this easy secret sooner.
This recipe is a dessert packed in a muffin shell. Believe it or not, but I do not like Pecan Pie, yet these muffins are one of my favorites. This recipe contains a lot of butter, but that is what makes these muffins so delicious because the butter creates it’s own glaze when mixed with the brown sugar. It is critical that you watch for when to take these out of the oven. Do NOT over cook them. They will continue to bake a bit even after you take them out and if you forget about them, they’ll get too crunchy. They will be moist and chewy on the inside with just a tad of crunchiness on the outside.
Trust me, these will become a favorite. Since they are really rich, I do serve them as mini muffins to avoid the temptation of polishing them off instantaneously, but you can make them full size and just leave them in the oven a tad longer. They are a bit more gooey that way and I like them even more.
This recipe only makes about 18 mini muffins, so you may want to double the batter if serving for a crowd.
I can’t wait to hear your reaction. I can almost imagine it now!! You may just start your own Pecan Pie Muffin making business. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Recipe: Mini Pecan Pie Muffins
Summary: These delicious Mini Pecan Pie Muffins are incredibly moist on the inside with just a touch of crunch on the outside.
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 eggs, beaten
Instructions
- Combine brown sugar, flour and pecans.
- In separate bowl, mix melted butter and eggs well.
- Add butter and eggs mixture to the flour mixture.
- Stir just until moist.
- Must grease and flour mini muffin pans. (I highly recommend a non stick pan or you may have problem getting them out if not greased well.)
- Bake at 350° for 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remember to check them. Outside should be golden brown. Each oven is slightly different so timing could be from 13-18 minutes.
- Remove from pan immediately and place on wire rack to cool.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
Thanks. Looking forward to trying this soon. We had a bumper crop of pecans last year.
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Jen Reply:
April 19th, 2014 at 9:58 am
Oh my – bumper crop of pecans? That is heaven! Enjoy! 🙂
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What is considered a serving of these? I noticed it says it yields 6 servings. Is that only 6 mini muffins??? I’ll have to triple the recipe to make it worth my while to make these!!
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Jen Reply:
April 19th, 2014 at 9:57 am
Sorry, in the written blog post it states 18 mini muffins. I averaged about 3 per person, but that is as a treat. My guys would gobble down many more if I let them. As I mentioned in the post, I would double the batch if I was serving for a group.
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I just tried making a GF version of this, this afternoon, using bob’s red mill all purpose mix, and adding 1 1/2 tsp guar gum. I used liners in the pans as I don’t have non-stick pans. I was so afraid of overcooking that I undercooked the first pans, but the next ones I let get much more brown and the bottoms got crunchy as well. Even on the ones with softer bottoms, my taste testers gave them 2 thumbs up!
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Jen Reply:
April 25th, 2014 at 5:57 pm
I am SO glad you shared this! I would not have known what to tell you about making it gluten free. So glad they worked and your next batch will be just right. 🙂
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I love pecan pie, so I’m sure I’ll love these! Thanks for the inspirational muffin idea! Pinning to Pinterest!
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Do you have any pictures of your packaging from when you sold them at the market? Thinking of homemade holiday gifts for these for Christmas! So delish!!!
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I made these but change the recipe a bit since I could not find my 1/3 cup to measure…instead of using 2/3 cup of butter, i just used one stick of butter and I added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (i love that spice).. and let me tell you they came out great…my family could not get enough of them. I also made another batch for a friend who does not eat butter (i know he is crazy but i still love him…hehehe) and substituted 1/2 cup sweetened apple sauce and they tasted good too, they were just a bit more dense and took longer to cook than the butter ones. Overall they got great reviews. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
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Jen Reply:
March 19th, 2015 at 8:03 pm
So glad to hear how you made it your own and I love to hear that the applesauce turned out well. These do have a ton of butter so cutting it a bit is a good thing. 🙂
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They sound great, can’t wait to try them. Thank-you for sharing!
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Jen Reply:
August 19th, 2016 at 10:43 am
You’re so welcome. They’re so easy and delicious.
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The recipe says it yields 6 muffins (large?) then above in your other comments it says it yields (18 minis?) I need to make 48 so I’m trying to figure out this recipe without mistakes.
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Jen Reply:
July 20th, 2017 at 7:45 am
The mini muffins refer to the muffin tins with the very tiny muffins, which I like to do since these are very rich.
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