Pecan Pie Bars
By lauramae
These luscious Pecan Pie Bars are one of the best things I’ve ever made to date. We love Pecan Pie in our house, so this was a cinch to turn our old favorite recipe into portable bars! Can’t you picture yourself cruising around with one of these dudes during the holiday season? I can! And will! Mwa mwa mwa…
- 20
Ingredients
- 2 cups AP flour (preferably King Arthur)
- 1 cup super cold unsalted butter (2 sticks, cut up into small-ish pieces, if you use salted butter, omit 1/4 tsp salt)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup light corn syrup, or dark if you’re feeling adventurous (and if you try this, please tell me your results!) :D
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped pecans
Preparation
Step 1
Grease or line a 9×13 inch pan with parchment paper, set aside. (I used parchment for easy clean-up, and I was able to lift the bars right out of the pan for easy slicing)
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/3 cup sugar and salt, stir together. Cut butter in mixture with fork or pastry cutter until butter is in tiny pea-sized pieces. Press mixture firmly into bottom of pan and bake for 20 minutes. (If mixture is too crumbly, add a tablespoon of ice cold water. But mixture should be pretty dry, don’t panic, just press firmly)
In another bowl, combine corn syrup, brown and white sugar, mix well. With an electric mixer, beat in eggs one at a time, add vanilla and fold in pecans. Pour mixture into previously baked crust, and bake for about 40-45 minutes.
Give the pan a gentle shake after 45 mins, if the mixture jiggles and is mostly liquid, keep baking for another 5 minutes or so.
If you gently shake the pan and there’s only a little movement in the middle, they’re done. Also the filling will puff up and become a blond-ish color during baking, this is normal and what we want! Bars should be a dark-ish golden brown color, like a traditional pecan pie. Not light golden brown.
Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes on a wire rack, and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream. OR, we found that they’re even better when they’ve been refrigerated! Keep any leftovers refrigerated and ENJOY homeslices!