The Story:
Thanksgiving in my favorite holiday. It’s all about food, family and remembering that no matter how average or tough we may think our lives are, we have so much to be thankful for. But back to the “food” part of the holiday… it can’t get much better than spending hours and hours cooking and baking for the people we love! It’s an excuse to say cheesy things to one another and to eat way too much pie. The only downfall of the day? We never seem to make enough stuffing. Sure, we always have enough to get us through the meal, but I want enough to last for a week of leftovers! If only…
Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 C. butter
- 2/3 C. brown sugar
- 2 2/3 C. flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Pecan Topping:
- 1/2 C butter
- 1 C. brown sugar
- 1/3 C. honey
- 2 Tbsp. heavy cream
- 2 1/2 C. pecans roughly chopped
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9X13 pan with foil (grease the parts of the pan not covered in foil).
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2. To make crust, beat butter and sugar together for 2 minutes. Then mix in flour, salt and cinnamon. Dump into prepared pan, flatten out evenly and bake for 20 minutes.
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3. Filling: In a small sauce pan melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar, honey and cream. Let simmer for 1 minute, then stir in pecans and vanilla extract. (I left my pecans mostly whole for photos, but when I make these again I will probably chop them up more.)
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4. Pour filling onto crust and bake for another 20 minutes.
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5. Remove from oven and let cool. Then lift up on the overhanging foil to easily take the bars out of the pan and then cut! (My pieces were huge! I would cut them smaller unless you want your guests to be in a sugar coma)
Leave extra foil draping over the sides so that once the bars are cooled, you can lift up on the extra foil to remove the bars.
Oh man! I so need to try these!!!
I bought heavy cream yesterday (I NEVER buy it…..ever!)…….so it’s like it was meant to be! I can’t wait to make these! Yum! Thanks for so many great recipes…..and your pics are always so awesome! You rock! :o)
Oh fabulous! It was definitely meant to be!
YUM. Do you think these would freeze okay?
Yes, I’m sure they would!
Pecan is the best Thanksgiving pie hands down. This recipe looks great!
I love Pecan Pie – so naturally this recipe looks genius to me! Definitely want to try it.
These sound delicious! I’m drooling.
These were wonderful! They are my family’s new favorite sweet. Yummy!!!!
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in my country, nor do we use pecans a lot, but I made this recipe today and we LOVE it! I used normal whipping cream (no doyble cream or heavy cream in my country……) and it turned out just fine! I’m going to bring some over to my neighbours tonight to see what they think!
Oh good! I’m glad you took a jump and made them!
Love this! I’m definitely going to make this and give away to my coworkers for Christmas.
Hi Lizzy,
I just finished making these for Thanksgiving–they look fantastic! I’m hoping I did this recipe justice…
Right now, the only concern I had was with the base: it looked a LOT drier than yours does in your photo. I think it’ll be ok, since it stuck together the second I applied any pressure to it; but in/straight out of the bowl, it looked like very fine sand…
Did I do something wrong?
Just FYI, I live in Fairbanks, Alaska; there is VERY little humidity (ya know, unless there’s a blizzard happening). I dunno if that makes a difference for baking. Most of the time, the things I’ve baked here have turned out MUCH better than when I make them at home (on the northen East Coast about 20 minutes from the beach)
that was supposed to say “northern East Coast”…. sheesh, I gotta go to bed! lol
You can always add a little extra butter if you feel like it’s too dry, but it is a crust so it’s okay for it to be on the dry side (unlike a cake)
Oh, and my cousin lives in Fairbanks!Ben Abbott
Do we use self rising or all purpose flour?
I just use all purpose flour!
Do you know how long they stay fresh? Looking for a recipe to make to send to my husband overseas. takes a week to 10 days for packages…
I would probably suggest making cookies for that length of time!
Michelle, did you make these for your husband? I’m looking at making them to send to my husband who is deployed, but I’m not sure if they’ll keep. If you did make them, were they okay by the time they got to him?
Do these need to be refrigerated or can they be stored at room temperature?
Is the crust supposed to be soft when you pour the topping on? Mine was soft. I’m hoping it turns out. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m in the process of going gluten-free, so I’m excited to try this recipe, substituting my gluten-free flour blend (a la Cook’s Illustrated / America’s Test Kitchen recommendation to make one’s own flour blend). Will report back! Lizzy, do you do any GF baking?
My daughter forwarded me the link to these bars – because my husband started baking pies (yes, crust from scratch!) last Thanksgiving – he’s in his 2nd year now, and he ROCKS the crust. But he’s never tried GF, soooooo ….. this one’s on me!
Can you please reply with the gluten free recipe? Or I can give you my email address!! Thank you!!!!!
There’s this account on FB using bloggers pictures without permission, and translating and posting the recipes there and on Instagram. I found the top one there, you might want to file a takedown with Facebook. His account is ElCocineroAficionado on Facebook.
I saw these as I was scrolling for an easy pecan desert for Thanksgiving dinner. They looked fabulous in the picture and sounded easy enough. Let me just say that this is going to be my new specialty item! Everyone loves my brownies and cakes but this is hands down the best desert I’ve ever made. I couldn’t find my honey so I substituted Karo Syrup. These are absolutely divine. They taste like a tiny pecan pie but better because I don’t like the “filling” of the pecan pie. These are absolutely perfect. They came out looking like the picture as well. Just great. I can’t say it enough. I used parchment paper instead of foil. Let them cool all the way before cutting and definitely cut your pecans at least in half. I just randomly chopped them three or four times and it was perfect. Make this one…you won’t regret it!
About how many normal (that’s important) servings do you say this yields? As I cook for large groups, it helps me to know in advance how many batches of something I may need to prepare for a function. Many thanks.
p.s., now I’m talking normal here. Not the tishy little bit Aunt Phyllis might take because she’s on a diet or the massive slab uncle Henry will take. Just a NORMAL serving.
These are delicious