Pecan Bars

It’s that time of the year to hit up some bars. Wait…I’m not talking about those kinds of bars; I’m strictly speaking of the sweet variety, such as cookie and pie bars. (Did I get ya? 😉 )  Last week we shared a Coconut Oil Apple Crumb Bar recipe and today I’m hitting ya with yet another tasty treat: pecan bars. I’m tellin’ ya…this is your cue–if you haven’t made bars lately, now’s the time to get crackin’! I mean, just look at these things…

These pecan bars are the perfect combination of salty and sweet, crunchy and gooey. They’re a delight to your taste buds, truly.

I used both Golden Barrel Light Brown Sugar as well as Supreme Baking Molasses for a full, robust (in an AMAZING mouthwatering-kinda way) flavor. And I even went the extra mile and made some real whipped cream to dollop on top of them. I’m not your mom, so I can’t tell you what to do, but I strongly encourage you to follow suit and do likewise. You won’t hate me, let’s just say that.

So let’s get to it! First up, you want to line your baking dish with some parchment paper. I chose parchment for this recipe since I was working with a sticky filling. Typically foil works great for cookie bars, but for these pecan bars, I recommend parchment. Because let me tell ya–I had a bad experience once with foil sticking to the bottoms of some caramel pretzel bark I made…and anyone who has metal fillings in their teeth knows exactly where I’m going with that. Yikes…still gives me nightmares. So, definitely line your pan with parchment. And for an even easier removal process, I wiped some coconut oil on the bottom and sides of my dish before I laid the parchment in. Absolutely no sticking/tearing of the paper took place in the extraction process of these here bars. 🙂

Next, on to the shortbread-like crust. It’s simply flour, salt, brown sugar, and cold butter. I used my pastry blender to mix the ingredients together but if you have a food processor, feel free to use that. You work in the ingredients until they’re fully incorporated. It’ll take a few minutes, so don’t rush it. The end product should come together when you press it with your fingers. If it’s too crumbly when you press it, keep mixing!

Then pour the crust mixture into your dish. It’ll look crumbly and separated, but will come together once you press it into the dish. Bake the crust for about 25 minutes until it’s lightly golden (the picture is before it went into the oven).

As the crust is baking, toast some pecans for several minutes just to enhance their flavor a bit.

Now we’re ready to make the rest of the filling, the gooey part…

Whisk together the brown sugar, molasses, light corn syrup and the rest of the ingredients

And pour that on top of the hot crust and stick back in the oven for another 25 minutes or until set in the middle. Your bars shouldn’t wobble when you shake the pan a bit. If they do, stick them back in the oven. They should look like this deliciousness:

And in one easy tug of the parchment paper, the bars lifted right out of the pan. Easy peasy. (But remove them after they’ve completely cooled.)

Then cut and serve with that dollop of whipped cream I was telling you about.

I gotta tell ya–the day I made these bars, I had a cold and couldn’t taste anything, thus making taste-testing impossible on my end. But once Mitch (my husband) got home from work, I served him up a bar just like that one up there, and as he took a fork-full and started chewing, he looked at me with a big smile spread across his face and just nodded his head. That’s all he “said” and that was good enough for me! Of course when my taste buds were back in action the next day, I enjoyed my own bar and knew exactly why Mitch had smiled the day before–these bars are where it’s at. Try ’em and find out what all the smiling’s about. 🙂

Pecan Bars

Print Recipe

Sweet and salty, crunch and gooey--these bars are sure to impress!

• CourseBars, Dessert

Pecan Bars Print Recipe Sweet and salty, crunch and gooey--these bars are sure to impress! CourseBars, Dessert

Ingredients

Crust

• 6 Tbsp cold butter, diced I used salted butter & reduced the amount of salt later
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Golden Barrel Light Brown Sugar packed
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt (If using unsalted butter, use up to 1 tsp of salt)

Filling

• 3/4 cup Golden Barrel Light Brown Sugar packed
• 1/4 cup Golden Barrel Supreme Baking Molasses
• 1/3 cup Golden Barrel Light Corn Syrup
• 4 Tbsp butter (1/2 stick), melted
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 cup toasted and roughly chopped pecans

Servings:

Instructions

Crust

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F and arrange a rack in middle of oven. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x9 baking dish with coconut oil and line with parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang on each side.
2. Combine the butter, flour, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl and cut the butter in with a pastry blender (may also use a food processor and pulse) until the mixture is well combined and it resembles coarse meal. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish and bake until lightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately make the filling.

Filling

1. Toast pecans in pan on medium heat for 5-7 minutes until lightly toasted, stirring occassionally.
2. Whisk together the brown sugar, molasses, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, salt, and eggs in a bowl until well combined. Add the pecans and stir to coat. Pour the pecan mixture over the hot crust and return the baking dish to the oven.
3. Bake until top is browned and set, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from dish and cutting into 1-inch squares.

Fresh Whipped Cream

1. Pour heavy cream (I used about half a pint) into a chilled bowl with powdered sugar to taste (a couple teaspoons) and a splash of vanilla extract. Beat with chilled beaters until cream reaches stiff peaks.

Recipe Notes

Recipe adapted from Food Network

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