Ingredients

Crust

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 c all-purpose flour

Filling

• 1/2 c unsalted butter
• 1/2 c dark brown sugar
• 1/2 c maple syrup
• 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 lg eggs
• 3 c coarsely chopped pecans

This recipe is a little tricky and you may want to recruit a partner to help you out when it comes to making the filling.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 pan.

Crust:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the granulated sugar, vanilla and salt. Set aside.
2. Slice butter into pieces and place in a small-medium sized skillet.
   • If you have a light-colored skillet, it would be best to use that for this. It will be harder to see the butter browning otherwise.
3. Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring it occasionally. After the butter has melted, continue to stir it occasionally. Once 5-6 minutes has elapsed, the butter should begin to brown (if you are using a light-colored pan, you will see brown specks form at the bottom).
4. Once the butter has browned, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool for 5 minutes before adding it to the sugar mixture.
5. Now mix the flour into the butter-sugar mixture, until combined fully.
6. Press the crust evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Filling:

1. In a small-medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs together. Set aside.
   • You will be adding things to the bowl later so make sure it is not too small.
2. Coarsely chop the pecans, if necessary, and set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and heavy cream, over medium heat.
4. Whisk to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow it to boil for 3 minutes.
5. Carefully remove 1/2 c of the mixture and slowly drizzle it into the eggs, stirring frequently to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
   • This is the point where I would recommend having someone help you. Have one person continue to stir the butter mixture while the other one is stirring 1/2 c of it into the eggs.
6. Once the mixture has been completely added to the eggs, drizzle the egg mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly.
7. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the pecans.
8. Pour the pecan mixture over the baked crust, making sure it is even.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes, covering it with aluminum foil if it begins to get too brown.
10. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool completely before cutting it into bars.

Test Kitchen: Opinion and Changes

This delicious pie recipe came from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I have made regular pecan pies before, but I have never seen anyone make pecan pie bars. When I stumbled across this recipe I just had to try it for myself. As expected, it was delicious and I can’t wait to have it again.

Happy Baking!