While I love making pie, sometimes the thought of all that dough making, rolling out, waiting forever, etc. just isn't worth it but I want that pecan pie taste asap. In come these chocolate pecan pie bars! Giving you all of the filling of your favourite pecan pie, but as a chocolate pecan bar.
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These pecan pie bars are made with a shortbread crust, taking out all the hassle of pie dough. And if you're like, 'but I want a pecan pie bar without corn syrup' - then no worries! I use golden syrup in this recipe.
Ingredients
- Pecans of course! I would suggest not using the old bag of opened pecans you might have from last year, as nuts can go rancid.
- Butter I love browning butter for my shortbread
- Golden Syrup I use golden syrup for the filling, but you could substitute it with maple syrup
- Chocolate I love a black bottom pecan pie, so I swirled in some chocolate chunks to the filling
Expert Tips & FAQS
After you've browned the butter, you'll mix it with the sugars, vanilla, salt and flour. You'll then carefully press this batter to the bottom of your dish and bake for 15 minutes. It won't look fully done but that's ok as it'll continue cooking when we put the filling in and pop it back in the oven.
If you add eggs to a hot liquid, what's going to happen? It'll cook the eggs! We definitely don't want to have scrambled eggs in this recipe, so we do something called tempering. When our hot liquid made of heavy cream, butter, golden syrup, vanilla and brown sugar starts to boil, we're going to take a small amount of this boiling mixture out and whisk it into our eggs in a separate bowl. When we do this we slowly stream it into the eggs, all constantly whisking. We'll then slowly stream this egg mixture back into the saucepan, whisking the whole time!
This means your mixture will come together with no scrambled eggs!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees/175 degrees. On a baking sheet, lay out your pecans in an even layer with no overlapping. Toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes, shaking the pan halfway through.
Recipe
Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Equipment
- 9x9 inch pan
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 227 grams unsalted butter
- 250 grams flour
- 80 grams granulated sugar
- 20 grams light brow sugar
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pecan Pie Filling
- 100 grams light brown sugar
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 113 grams unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 300 grams toasted pecans
- 120 ml golden syrup
- 30 ml double cream
- 113 grams dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
Make Shortbread
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Melt your butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until you begin to get small flecks of brown at the bottom. Remove from heat and let cool.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugars, brown butter, vanilla and salt together. Add in the flour and whisk until fully combined. Press this cookie batter into the pan and bake for 15 minutes. It won't be fully done but it will finish baking when we add the filling. Keep the oven on.
Make the filling
- Put the butter, golden syrup, salt, vanilla, brown sugar and double cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and then let it come to the boil. Once boiling, take out about ½ cup and slowly pour it into your beaten eggs in a very thin stream, all while constantly whisking the eggs. Once the boiling mixture has been added, slowly stream it back into the saucepan, all while whisking the mixture in the saucepan. Remove from heat and add the pecans and chocolate, then pour over the shortbread.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes and let cool completely. I found it easiest to cut them once I had put them in the fridge.
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