Pecan Pie Bars
These bars have a buttery shortbread crust and a gooey pecan topping. It's just like cookie bars meets pecan pie!
Ingredients
For The Shortbread Crust:
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup cold butter
For The Pecan Pie Filling:
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour also add 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour to this mixture too.
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups corn syrup dark corn syrup is the best.
- 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans originally recipe only calls for 2 cups, but I like to have mine with extra pecans so I add in an extra half cup here.
Instructions
For The Shortbread Crust:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees if you are using a glass baking pan (or preheat to 350 degrees if you are using a different pan).
- Spray cooking pan with cooking spray throughly. Then place a sheet of parchment paper large enough to cover the whole pan on top of the sprayed cooking pan. This will make it much easier to remove the baked pecan pie bars later.
- Mix together the 1 and 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of sugar completely. Then, add in the cool 3/4 cup of butter. It is best to use a food processor for this part because you want the mixture to resemble very fine crumbs.
- Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan and try to make it as even as you can.
- Place into preheated oven and bake for about 25 minutes or until it is a nice golden brown color. The original recipe calls for just 20 minutes, but I find that it is not done enough after just 20 minutes for my oven. I did it for just 20 minutes one time and the crust came out a little doughy on the bottom so it just depends on your preference and your oven for how long you bake it here.
For The Pecan Pie Layer:
- While the shortbread is baking you can now make the top pecan pie layer to these bars. Mix together 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon of flour and 2/3 cups of brown sugar throughly to prevent any lumps.
- Then whisk in the 4 eggs, 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 1/2 cups dark corn syrup until completely combined.
- Let this mixture sit for about 15 minutes while the crust bakes and stir it occasionally.
- Add the pecans to the mixture and stir to combine.
- Pour topping all over the still hot shortbread crust and place it back in the oven for 50 minutes. Again, the original recipe called for about 40 minutes but I found that wasn't enough time for them to be completely done. You want it to have a little wiggle when you pull it out of the oven but not so much that when you cut into it, it will be runny.
- Cool the bars in the pan to room temperature and then place in fridge for several hours or even overnight.
- Once they are completely cool, pull the bars out of the pan with the extra parchment paper and then place on cutting board. Use a serrated knife and saw through the bars, cutting them to your desired size and enjoy!
