All the Pecan Pie Flavor–No Dough Rolling or Chilling Required!
Somehow Thanksgiving is tomorrow…where has the year gone?! If you’re running around like a chicken (turkey?) with your head cut off, this pecan pie bar recipe is for you! These pecan pie bars take only 20 minutes to prep, thanks to an easy, shortbread crust made in the food processor. Plus, unlike traditional pecan pie, this recipe require NO rolling or chilling of pie dough, which means you’ll have more time to focus on your other family favorites. The filling is exactly what you’d expect–it’s gooey, buttery, and blissfully caramelized. It tastes just as good with untoasted as with toasted pecans, which saves a few minutes (and oven time) in your busy schedule! Wishing a very happy Thanksgiving to you and your family–I’ll see you all on Monday with my first Christmas recipe of the year!
What You Need
You’ll see some classic pecan pie ingredients here, plus a few new ones:
Flour. You’ll use flour in both the crust and the filling. While I originally was resistant to adding flour to the filling (after all, I don’ t use it in my pecan pie), after lots of testing I ultimately preferred the filling with flour. It makes the pecan pie layer smoother, helps it to set better, and ultimately also makes it less grainy.Cornstarch. I love using cornstarch to give this crust a shortbread-esque texture. It also helps keep the crust from getting soggy, which can often happen with a regular pecan pie. Brown sugar. I use light brown sugar for the crust and the filling. Dark brown sugar will also work for the filling, but keep in mind it will make these already sweet bars even sweeter. Butter. Use unsalted butter so we can control how much salt goes into our pecan pie bars. You’ll want your butter to be very cold for the crust, but it should be melted and cooled for the filling.Cream. Just a little heavy cream helps bind the crust together. Pecans. You can either buy pre-chopped pecans or chop your own. Unlike with my pecan sandies and butter pecan cookies, I don’t find that toasting the nuts beforehand makes much of a difference here. Corn syrup. I recommend using light corn syrup. Dark corn syrup will also work, but it makes the bars richer and sweeter in a way that I found to be overpowering/cloying. Eggs. Room temperature eggs will work best (as cold eggs are a bit resistant to combining smoothly into the filling). Just lightly beat them before you add them to the filling–don’t overdo it! Over-beating the eggs or the filling can result in a mealy texture. Vanilla. This adds a nice richness to the filling. If you’ve got some homemade vanilla extract, you can use it here! Salt. For flavor, we’ll add some plain table salt to the filling and the crust.
SAM’S TIP: I recommend lining your baking pan with parchment or foil. This will make it easy to lift the bars out and cut them once they’ve cooled completely. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pecan Pie Bars
Note that while the crust for pecan pie bars could be prepared without a food processor (using a grater or pastry cutter or rubbing the butter into the mixture), it will be very, very difficult to work together. This is a dry dough that really benefits from the power of a food processor! SAM’S TIP: Try to not over-process the shortbread dough! Keeping it dry and crumbly may seem counter-intuitive but it will make it much, much easier to press into the pan (trust me on this!). Keep in mind this recipe does make quite a few servings (double what a regular pie makes) so you may have some leftover. If I were you, I’d keep them for myself to eat with leftover turkey pot pie, but if you’re generous, you can divvy them up. Enjoy!
More Bar Recipes You Might Like
Gingerbread Cookie BarsMillionaire’s ShortbreadKey Lime Pie BarsBlueberry Crumb Bars
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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