Pecan Pie Bars

AHHH, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving …

Sometimes I think the Thanksgiving is when it’s over! It’s a lot of work. A lot of cooking. For us, a LOT of driving!

And …

10 MINUTES OF EATING!

What the heck!?

And then … and then … cleaning up! HOLY COW!

Fortunately, the Dear One and I do most of the cooking, so I sit back and let others clean it up. I am GREAT at making the mess but not so great at cleaning it up!

I wanted to bring a dessert, but it had to be something that traveled well. 8 hours in a car can be brutal on a cake or pie. I love pecan pie. From what I had gathered there were at least two pies and a cake coming. So pie was out.

I had come across this recipe from an old issue of Gourmet Magazine … pardon me whilst I dry the tears from my eyes … oh, how I miss you Gourmet! Okay … so I had found this in Gourmet and it was in a megapile of recipes I had torn from magazines (never to be seen again). Fortunately someone had the good sense to make it and pin in on Pinterest! To whomever it was, thank you!

This really goes together in a snap. Tastes just like pecan pie. I am sure with the same calorie count, BUT cutting them into squares gives you a little pecan pie taste without indulging in a whole slice. (YEAH, RIGHT, let me see you eat just one! Well, all the you out there except my mother, Madam Willpower!)

Careful not to over bake them. Careful not to leave them out in a FREEZING cold solarium. They.Become.Rocks! If that happens, a very quick, very short zap in the microwave will help.

Oh, and a scoop of ice cream goes a long way!

Who was it I head saying something about these being less fattening? Oh, me! Well, in the immortal words of Gilda Radner … Never Mind …

For crust:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 C packed brown sugar
• 2 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• ½ t salt

For topping:

• 1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter
• 1 C packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 C honey
• 2 T heavy cream
• 2 C chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a 9×13-inch pan with foil, leaving enough for a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

NOTE: Not parchment. Not any thought of I don’t need to line it. No cooking spray. FOIL! You’ll thank me later!

First make the crust by creaming together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add in the flour and salt and mix until crumbly.

Press the crust into the foil-lined pan and bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.

While the crust bakes, prepare the filling by combining the butter, brown sugar, honey and heavy cream in a saucepan and stirring it over medium heat. Simmer the mixture for 1 minute, then stir in the chopped pecans.

Remove the crust from the oven and immediately pour the pecan filling over the hot crust spreading it to cover the entire surface.

Return the pan to the oven and bake an additional 20 minutes.

Remove the pan and allow the bars to fully cool in the pan.

Use the foil overhang to lift out the bars and transfer them to a cutting board. Peel off the foil, slice into bars and serve.

Pecan Pie

Stuck.

Blocked.

Bored.

Uninspired.

Dislike cooking (can that possibly be!?).

Stuck, blocked, bored, and seriously challenged by my iMac.

I miss my PC.

Once you get out of the habit of sitting down and writing, it is SOOOOooooOOOOO hard to sit back down again and write.

The drill for resizing and reformatting my photos is becoming a nightmare.

And now that I haven’t posted in a month (GASP!), will anyone out there still read? Has anyone noticed my being MIK (Missing in Kitchen)? This is the chance I must take, so here we go!

Every year, usually the weekend before Thanksgiving, my foodie friends and I gather at my house for Friends’ Thanksgiving. Friends’ Thanksgiving is a time honored tradition in my family and always a lot of fun (you get to spend Thanksgiving with the family you have chosen, and not necessarily the ones you are stuck with – and no Mom I am not talking about you!).

As we’ve branched out on our own, we each do our Friend’s Thanksgiving a little differently.  In my house, because my friends all love to cook, the turkey, stuffing and gravy are on me, and the friends bring everything else.

This year I also made cranberry sauce and 2 pies that everyone always asks for – one of which is this pecan pie.

If I do say so myself, this is the BEST pecan pie ever!

Although I always make this in a 9″ deep dish pie shell, and did just that for Friends’ Thanksgiving, I became a little adventurous for ‘real’ Thanksgiving and made them in mini – at the end of this I will explain the mini debacle.

This recipe is very simple and has a really delicious result! I know my Mom gave me this recipe, where she came across it is one of those things that is lost in the recesses of my aging brain.

Preheat oven to 350.

• 4 eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 1 C light corn syrup
• 1/2 T flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 C butter (melted)
• 2 C pecans

NOTE:Being part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program has its perks. I was asked to try Land O’ Lakes eggs in a recipe and used them in this recipe!

Beat eggs.

Add next 5 ingredients, mix well.

Stir in melted butter and pecans.

Pour into pie shell.

NOTE: Those of you who USED to read my blog know that I am totally pie crust phobic. I used Pillsbury Pie Crust. PERFECT and less work.

Bake for 60 minutes.

NOTE: I add a pie shield or aluminum foil on the crust about halfway through so the crust doesn’t incinerate.

NOTE: So making minis … I know I had mini pie tins. I KNOW I DID. They chose to hide when I needed them. Probably sitting in the back of a cabinet LAUGHING at me searching for them. What is a girl to do? I searched the supermarket for a solution – and there it was, mini graham cracker crust shells. I scraped out the graham cracker and cut the pie dough a little larger than the tin. I made a HALF batch of the filling and poured it into the little tins. They baked in about 30 minutes.  I was worried about there not being enough ‘goo’ and too many pecans, but I was told they were really yummy!

For those of you still out there, thank you for being patient! It’s nice to be back!