As anyone who has given this blog a good read-through knows, I adore pecans. They are by far my baking nut of choice. I do try to branch out to others occasionally, with the exception of walnuts, but I don’t have a freezer full of pecans for no reason.
Pecan pie is also one of my favorite things. However, I usually only make it twice a year – Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyway, with the weather feeling more and more like fall, I thought this recipe would be just the right thing.
Okay, these are good. Not great, but good. I baked them a bit too long for my liking. Just be sure to keep an eye on them in the oven and not let them get overdone. Everyone else who ate them thought they were excellent, so maybe it’s just me. I think that I would like to make them again but in a smaller pan so they would be thicker. Still, it is chocolate and pecans, so can it really be that bad?
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 & 1/2 cups corn syrup
- 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
- 1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans
Instructions
To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease/spray a 15″x10″x1″ baking pan.
Beat butter until creamy. Add flour, sugar, and salt, and continue mixing until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Press onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
To make the filling:
In a large microwave-bowl, heat the corn syrup and chocolate for 90 seconds. Stir, and heat another 60 secons. Stir until chocolate has melted. Alternatively, heat the corn syrup and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat until chocolate has melted.
Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and mix well. Stir in pecans. Pour filling mixture over crust and spread evenly.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Kraft.
September 19th, 2006 at 1:30 am
I’m a pecan pie purist…not chocolate in my pie…but my hubby might like these.
September 19th, 2006 at 8:49 am
They look pretty good to me! There’s a recipe in the new Bon Appetit for a chocolate pecan pie, I’ve been thinking of making that for a while now.
September 19th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Peabody, I am normally a purist as well, but I thought I could break with tradition in bar form.
September 19th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Sort of like Kentucky Derby pie, sans the crust, right? I like pecan pie, once in a while, it’s just soooooo sweet. I prefer strawberry!
September 19th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
pecans are a great nut. I actually do not bake with them often enough but after reading your post and looking at your photos, you have changed my mind : )
September 20th, 2006 at 9:50 am
I find chocolate and pecans a nice compliment to each other, so I’m sure that I would enjoy these bars too!
September 20th, 2006 at 10:42 am
These sound fabulous – anything with chocolate and pecans gets my vote for a tasty treat. Now if I could only find people that would eat all of the treats I want to bake so that my boyfriend and I don’t gain TOO much weight…that, or the money to spend on feeding everyone else!! I like your blog a lot…everything looks so delicious!!
September 20th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
WOW! This is a great recipe.I am a huge Pecan fan too and I just bought a fresh bag full. Now I’ll be off tomorrow to buy the rest of the ingredients to make this!
thanks for sharing.
September 21st, 2006 at 5:35 am
your desserts never cease to impress and inspire!
September 21st, 2006 at 8:20 am
Thanks, Connie! You’re so sweet!
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:43 am
Oh, oh, I love pecans too!
Grrmbl, so many things to try, so little time…
September 30th, 2006 at 2:22 am
You seem to have some discrepancies in the sugar ingredients.
The “Printed” recipe is different than the “website” recipe…
September 30th, 2006 at 10:07 am
You are correct, Silver Surfer. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention. I have corrected my mistake. Thanks for dropping by!
October 20th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
I love pecan bars. I haven’t tried them with chocolate yet and will definitely try this! Perfect for the holidays. Your pictures look so yummy!
December 18th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Since you said these were good, not great, I thought I would offer my favorite recipe for chocolate pecan pie bars. Amazingly good (in my opinion). It’s a Rick Bayless recipe and the recipe can be found on his website: http://www.fronterakitchens.com/cooking/recipes/pecan_pie_bars.html
I made these for the 3rd year in a row for Thanksgiving, and will be making them again for Christmas.
December 18th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Thanks for the link, Erika! Those do sound very good.
August 20th, 2012 at 8:00 am
I think you’re being to hard on your recipe. I’m sure these taste great.