I know that bars may sound old-fashioned, but they’re just like cookies and they’re a lot faster to make. These bars are like pecan pie with a thicker crust and less filling so you can eat them with your hands. If you are making these for a special occasion, it looks cool if you use pecan halves instead of chopped pecans and arrange them in rows on top of the filling.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 48 bars
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2
To prepare the crust: Place the brown sugar and flour in a 9 by 13-inch pan and stir until combined. Add the butter and stir until evenly moistened. Pat the crust into the bottom of the pan and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and lower the temperature to 325°F.
Step 3
To prepare the filling: Place the eggs in a large bowl and beat until the whites are broken up and completely incorporated into the yolks. Add the pecans, flour, salt, brown sugar, and vanilla and mix until combined. Spread the mixture evenly over the crust and bake for 40 minutes, or until the filling is firm. Cool completely and cut into 48 squares.
Bargain Shopper
Step 4
The first time I bought butter, I couldn’t believe it was almost $5 a pound. As much as I like to bake, that doesn’t work for me. I consulted my favorite bargain shopper (Mom) and she said that she usually buys it at a warehouse store where it costs less than $2 a pound or she buys it when it’s on sale at the grocery store. Either way, she buys a lot at a time and puts it in the freezer, where it will keep for several months.
