• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180 °C)

Making the Filling

• In a medium mixing bowl, place the butter and melt it in the microwave oven in increments of 15 seconds. It should take about 4-5 cycles to melt the butter completely. Please do not heat for more than 15 seconds at a time otherwise the butter will explode inside the microwave oven.
• To the melted butter, add the brown sugar, vanilla extract, ground nutmeg, a pinch of salt and pour in the maple syrup. Stir vigorously to combine everything well and also slightly cool off the warm butter.
• Add in the 3 eggs and give it a good stir. Mix in the pecans and combine well. Set the filling aside until ready to use.

Making the Crusts

• Grease 2 nonstick muffin or cupcake pans with cooking spray or use 1 pan and make the pies in 2 batches.
• Sprinkle flour onto a work surface. Unroll pie crusts and use a rolling pin to spread out edges. Cut out circles into each pie crust using a 3.5 – 4 inch cookie cutter.
• Gather the leftover pie crust after cutting the circles and roll it into a ball. Sprinkle flour on the surface and also on the dough ball. Roll it out and repeat the process till you use most of the crust. You should get about 24 circles in total.
• Press the cut out crust circles into the greased muffin or cupcake pans.

Baking the Pies

• Give the prepared filling a good stir as it may have separated. Fill each mini pie crust with approx. ¼ cup of the prepared filling. Remember to stir before every filling.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.
• Cool down to room temperature in the pan before removing the pies from it. Using an offset baking metal spatula or a knife, gently loosen edges of the pies from the pan and lift each one out of the pan.
• Serve at room temperature or warm up on a baking sheet in the oven at 350°F (180 °C) for 5 minutes. You can also serve it topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (see Notes)