If you’re a fan of pecan pie, the classic American dessert, we’ve got something you have to try. These Test Kitchen-approved pecan pie bars are quick and easy. They also happen to be so tasty and cute that they make quite the impressive food gift. Make them for someone you love, or just to snack on when you need a sweet treat!
Ingredients for Pecan Pie Bars
- Cold butter: Cold butter is the key ingredient to a flaky crust for your pie dough, and for the base of these bars.
- Corn syrup: This recipe uses corn syrup as a sweetener, but if you prefer to use a different sugar alternative, try brown rice syrup.
- Pecans: Splurge on the best-quality pecans you can find for this recipe. The recipe calls for chopped pecans, and you can toast them first if you prefer a darker, nuttier flavor.
Directions
Step 1: Make the pastry dough base
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt. Cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about the size of peas. Press the pastry dough into a greased 15×10-inch baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.
Editor’s Tip: You can make the pastry dough base in a food processor if you’d prefer. Simply add all the ingredients to the food processor, and pulse several times until the butter is broken down.
Step 2: Make the filling
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Stir in the chopped pecans. Pour over the hot crust, and use a spatula to even out the top.
Step 3: Bake the bars
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the filling is set. Remove from the oven, and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, cut into the bars, and enjoy.
Pecan Pie Bar Variations
- Add chocolate: Add a chocolate element either with some chocolate chips mixed into the filling, or with a chocolate drizzle on top after it comes out of the oven.
- Add coconut: Shredded coconut is a great addition to all things pecan. Add it to the filling, sprinkle it on top, or try both for an extra coconutty flavor!
- Add salt: Top your bars with a sprinkle of flake salt (sea salt in flake form) for the perfect touch of savory to balance the sweet.
How to Store Pecan Pie Bars
Store your pecan pie bars, wrapped or covered, in the fridge for up to three days, if you can even keep them around for that long! Storing in the fridge will also help make cutting them easier.
Tips for Pecan Pie Bars
Mark Neufang, Taste of Home culinary assistant, offers even more tips on how you can bake the perfect pecan pie bars at home:
How can you tell when pecan pie bars are done?
The filling should be just set; a tiny bit of a jiggle when you tap the edge of the pan while it’s in the oven is fine. The bars will continue to bake in the pan after you take them out of the oven. Much like a cheesecake, these bars rely on eggs to set them, and you don’t want to over-bake the bars and risk a crack in the center.
What can you do with extra pecans?
If you picked up a bag of pecans for this pecan pie bar recipe and still have some left, put them to use in our sweet and savory pecan recipes. Some of our favorites include pecan coffee cake and cream cheese turtle cups.
