Pecan Shortbread Bars
These Pecan Shortbread Bars have that sweet and salty thing going that I can’t get enough of. The maple and brown sugar coated pecans are layered on top of a thin, buttery, pat-in-pan shortbread crust for all the flavors of a pecan pie in an easier to execute form. Part chewy, part crunchy, they’d make a beautifully quick holiday dessert. I made them start-to-finish in about an hour!
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Baked pecan bars before I cut into them. Yes, I was obsessive and made sure all of the pecan halves were right side up. No regrets! See how pretty it is :)
Cut into triangles or squares.
Pecan Shortbread Bars Recipe:
Yield:
9 square bars or 18 triangles depending on how you cut them.
Difficulty:
Easy
Equipment:
Dough tamper (optional, but useful)
Ingredients
For the shortbread crust:
125 grams (1 cup) all purpose flour
75 grams (3 TBSP) granulated sugar
¼ tsp fine kosher salt or table salt
70 grams (4 ½ TBSP) unsalted butter, melted
For the pecan topping:
227 grams (8 ounces) pecan halves
2 TBSP maple syrup
2 TBSP light corn syrup
74 grams light brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp fine kosher salt or table salt
56 grams (3 ½ TBSP) unsalted butter
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, spread the pecan halves evenly across the sheet and place in the middle of the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes until fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the crust. Leave the oven on at 350° F.
Make the shortbread: Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position. (Trust me on this, you avoid blind baking the crust this way.) Line an 8x8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil leaving a 2 inch overhang on 2 opposite sides. Spray the foil with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt. Stir in the melted butter until clumps start to form. Use your hand to finish combining making sure there’s no totally dry flour, then dump the crumbles into the prepared pan and press into a thin, even layer. Really press down so it’s smooth. The bottom of a wide spatula or a dough tamper can be useful to do this. The dough may seem fairly dry, that’s okay, the topping adds some moisture.
Make the topping: Add maple syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt together to a clean, large bowl. Melt the butter and, while it’s still very hot, pour it over the maple syrup mixture, whisking until a smooth mixture forms. 20-30 seconds. Gently stir in the pecans until evenly coated, then pour the entire mixture over the crust, pressing into the edges and flattening down with a spatula. (And, if you’re a little obsessed with appearances like me, flip the pecans over so they’re right side up. It’s not really necessary except for looks. Just make sure the mixture is cool enough to handle.)
Bake until the mixture is brown and bubbling. 20-25 minutes. Let bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Lift out of pan using the foil, place on a cutting board. Using a serrated edge knife, using a gentle sawing motion, cut into squares and serve or cut squares into triangles if desired.
Photo by Daniel Marks
