Addictive Pecan Pie Bars – These are a definite way to impress everyone for the holidays.  They taste so heavenly rich and sweet.  They’re loaded with lots of pecans, and to take it up a notch, dipped in milk chocolate, sprinkles of sea salt all on top of a lovely buttery shortbread crust…(yes really!)…and it makes me swoon.

Do they make you swoon?  You should taste them!   Crazy insane.

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How delectable these are and all home-made make them even better!

Follow the directions and you’ll get some heaven after it’s all said and done.  It’s actually not that painful to make them.  🙂

You can add the chocolate or not.  Sea Salt or not.  (Oh Yesss!)

You can cut them small or cut them larger, depending on your preference. These are very rich, so take a bite out of a corner and decide.  Of course, one bar any size is amazing and according to the title, they are addicting!  Crazy insane addicting.

These are absolutely ideal to gift away, take to a carry-in at work or family gathering and of course for your own entertaining needs around the holidays.

Perfect on a party try with these 3 White Chocolate No-Bake Festive Candy Recipes, these Pillsbury™ Frosted Snowmen on a Stick and this also very addicting Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Rocky Road Fudge.  <—-It never had a chance. 🙂

I was thinking how good these would be with other nuts, hello!  Other chocolates?!  Yes, I’m in!

These bars scream Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Down to the very last bite!  Enjoy!

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

ADDICTIVE PECAN PIE BARS

These addictive, rich and gooey pecan pie bars are perfect for holiday baking and entertaining for a crowd!  

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 24 Servings

Author: Kim Lange

Ingredients

• Ingredients

Shortbread Crust;

• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (coffee and maple extract are good too!)
• 2 cups all purpose flour

Pecan Filling:

• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1-1/2 cups light brown sugar packed
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 pound raw pecans chopped
• Optional: sea salt for sprinkling
• Optional: 1 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9"x13" pan with parchment paper to remove the bars easily.
• Using a mixer, cream together 1 cup of the butter and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar in a large bowl. until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes
• Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until the flour and butter are just combined.
• Press the dough into the pan by using your fingertips evenly into the pan until it's even all the way across the pan.
• Bake for 15 minutes, until crust is lightly browned around the edges. Place pan in fridge while making the pecan filling.
• In a medium sized saucepan combine 1 cup of butter and 1-1/2 cups of brown sugar and the corn syrup and stir or whisk until well blended over medium-high heat, .
• Bring mixture to a boil and stir frequently for 3 minutes as the mixture will get light and airy. Remove the pan from the heat, then add the heavy cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and stir until combined.
• Add the chopped pecans and stir until they are completely coated.
• Remove the shortbread crust from the refrigerator and pour the topping over the crust, using a spatula to spread it into an even layer.
• Return bars to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pecan topping is set. It will jiggle a little. 

  Once you get to 20 minutes, really watch these.  The longer you bake, the more crunch you get on the edges of the bars.  I like to cut the edges off, but that's my husband's favorite part, so you can cut them any way you want after they are finished. cooling.)
  
• Add some sprinkles of sea salt to the top and allow the bars to cool completely before cutting into squares.  These are really sweet and rich, so that will determine how big you want to makes these.
• Melt milk chocolate in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time to get the chocolate mixed up to melt evenly for up to 1 - 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes until melted.
• Dip tops in melted chocolate and place on parchment or baking rack. Add sea salt immediately after dipping into chocolate and let chocolate set.
• Place bars in tins or a nice party tray and enjoy!

Notes

Add a splash of bourbon to your bars to give them a boozy feel. 

The smaller pecan pie bars in the photos are about 1 inch, so you will get a lot more of these.

 

 

Recipe slightly adapted from: Dinner At the Zoo