Mini Pecan Pies

autumn baking dessert fall fruit healthy holiday holidays oil-free party food plant-based recipe thanksgiving vegan whole food plant-based wholegrain Dec 18, 2025

After a big holiday meal, dessert should feel special, not overwhelming. These single-serving vegan pecan pies are the perfect solution. Made with whole food plant-based ingredients and sweetened mostly with dates, they deliver all the rich, nutty flavor of classic pecan pie in a beautifully portioned, individual size.

Baked right in a muffin pan, these Mini Pecan Pies are as practical as they are pretty. They’re easy to prepare, naturally sweet, and just the right size to cap off a festive feast without overdoing it.

I'll also show you how to decorate each with a little acorn and leaf made of dough from the pie crust to add a gorgeous finishing touch to your cute edible masterpieces.

Have you arrived here from YouTube? If so, welcome!

If you missed it, you can watch me make these Mini Pecan Pies in my YouTube video.

Click below to watch (the video will open in a new window), and then return here afterward to reference the instructions.

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This recipe yields 12 single-serving pecan pies.

Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

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Ingredients

💡 Scroll down for helpful links to special ingredients!

For the Pie Filling

2 cups pitted dates
3 cups pecans, divided (or ½ cup pecan butter + 1 cup pecans)
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp arrowroot powder
A pinch of salt
1 to 3 Tbsp of water (as needed)

For the Pie Crusts

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ oat flour
½ hazelnut flour (or almond flour)
¼ cup date powder (sometimes called date sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup water (or more as needed)
1 Tbsp pure maple syrup, for brushing the crusts

Instructions

Place the pitted dates in a bowl and cover them in hot water. I usually use my kettle for this task. Set them aside to soften, which will likely only take about 15-20 minutes, depending how dried your dates were to begin with.

Now we'll make some homemade pecan butter. If you prefer, you can skip the pecan blending step and use 1/2 cup of store-bought pecan butter.

If you'd like to make your own (I promise it's worth it!), measure 2 cups of pecans and transfer them to the small bowl of a food processor.

Process until a smooth semi-liquid (nut butter) consistency is formed. You may need to stop the machine occasionally to scrape down the sides.

Don't be discouraged if this takes a while. It'll depend a bit on how fresh the pecans are, and how powerful your food processor blade and motor are, but eventually the pecans will break down into a smooth nut butter.

Chop the remaining 1 cup of pecans.

Transfer them to a dry frying pan and toast them over medium heat, stirring very frequently, until they begin to brown and become fragrant.

Remove them immediately from the heat so they don't burn.

💡 Helpful Tip: Don't try to do other things while you're toasting the pecans. It's just too easy to forget about them, and they go from toasted to burned very quickly if you're not paying attention (which is really sad!) so just spend a few short minutes attending to your pecans while they toast in the pan.

Drain the dates of their soaking water and transfer them to the large bowl of a food processor. Add ½ cup of your homemade pecan butter to the dates.

If your original 2 cups of pecans yielded more than ½ cup of homemade pecan butter, transfer the remaining portion to an airtight food storage container and keep it in the fridge. It is soooo yummy spread over sourdough toast or -- my favorite -- a cinnamon raisin bagel!

Add 3 Tbsp maple syrup, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth.

Add 2 tsp arrowroot powder and, if your pie filling mixture seems quite thick, add 1 to 3 Tbsp of water (depending how thick the puree is) to help the arrowroot become evenly incorporated.

Blend again until smooth.

Transfer the date & pecan puree to a mixing bowl. Fold in the toasted pecans. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oat flour, hazelnut (or almond) flour, date powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir well.

Add ¾ cup plain, unsweetened plant-based Greek yogurt and 1 tsp vanilla extract (ingredient notes below).

Cut the yogurt into the dry ingredients until it forms a shaggy consistency. A pastry blender (aka "pastry cutter") is the best tool for this, but you can use a fork and/or a silicone spatula instead if that's what you've got. Scroll down for equipment links.

Add ½ cup water and stir until a cohesive ball forms. Knead until smooth.

When it's ready, it'll look something like this.

💡 Helpful Note: If you'd like, you can pause the recipe here, chill the dough in the fridge (wrapped in plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out), and then resume the recipe the next day.

Lay a piece of parchment paper on your work surface and lightly flour it.

Press the dough into a flat disc, then place the disc on the paper and continue pressing it out as much as you can with your hands.

Then use a rolling pin to roll the dough out until it's about ⅛ inch thick.

Use the rim of a pint glass to cut 12 circles into the dough.

Use acorn- and leaf-shaped cookie cutters (equipment links below) to cut 12 acorns and 12 leaf shaped pieces into the remaining dough.

Pull away any unused dough and roll it into a ball, then cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it so you can make cookies with it later (instructions here).

Line a muffin pan with parchment baking cups and preheat the oven to 375°F.

Flatten each circle a bit more with your fingers before you press it into the pan.

Press one circle into each well of the muffin pan so it covers the bottom and extends up the sides.

Divide the filling mixture evenly among the 12 pie crusts.

Smooth each pie out evenly across the top. A silicone spatula is the best tool for this, but the back of a spoon will also work.

Press one leaf cutout and one acorn cutout on top of each pie, slightly overlapping, such that the edges of the cutouts rest on the outer crust of each pie.