Slightly roll out pie crust and use a 3 ½- 4 inch cookie cutter to cut out crusts. Reroll leftover dough and continue cutting until you have 24 crusts.
2 refrigerated pie crusts
Lightly spray muffin pan openings with cooking spray. Press crust into each opening and press down.
To make the filling:
Crack eggs in a large bowl and whisk until lightly beaten. Add dark brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter and vanilla and whisk until completely incorporated.
3 eggs, 1 cup dark brown sugar, ½ cup light corn syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 tbsp butter
Stir in pecans and pour 1½ tablespoons of filling into each crust. Bake for 30 minutes or until filling is set. They will puff when they bake and will sink when cool.
¾ cup chopped pecans
Cool mini pies in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on colling rack.
Notes
Use room-temperature eggs in the filling so the melted butter doesn't curdle.
Don't overfill the crusts, the filling puffs up as it bakes and then sinks when cooling.
Reserve a few of the chopped pecans to place on top before baking for picture-perfect pies.
These keep at room temperature for 2 days, refrigerated for 5 or frozen for 3 months.
If you plan on freezing the pies for later, cool the pies completely on a cooling rack before freezing. Layer in an airtight container with parchment paper.