These delicious bars satisfy that love of a gooey, chewy, yet a little crunchy pecan filling on the top, with a tender buttery crust on the bottom in the ultimate little bar package!
Prep and preheat: place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a 9” x 13” pan with a parchment paper, allowing a 1” overhang on the long sides, greasing below and above the parchment.
Process the crust dry ingredients: to make the crust, pulse the flour, ½ cup toasted pecans, ⅔ cup brown sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and baking powder in a food processor, until evenly combined with no chunks remaining, about 10-15 seconds.*3
Cut in the butter: drop the cold, cubed butter pieces across the top of the nut mixture, and pulse until the mixture resembles course cornmeal and darkens slightly (about 10 seconds pulsing or on low speed). Be careful not to blend for too long as the butter can start to melt and form a dough instead of crumbs.
Press crumbs into pan: sprinkle the crumbs across the bottom of the prepared pan and press them firmly into a thick, even layer. (It will seem like way to many crumbs, but they’ll compact down to a nice crust - I promise!)
Bake until golden brown: bake the crust until it begins to brown around the edges and smell toasted, about 22-25 minutes.
TO MAKE THE FILLING:
Prepare the filling: a few minutes before the crust is finished baking, prepare the topping. In a large bowl, whisk together the corn syrup, melted butter, 1 cup brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, and ½ teaspoon salt until smooth and fully combined.
Whisk in the eggs: add the eggs and whisk until well blended.
Pour filling over hot crust: when it's ready, remove the hot crust from the oven and place it on a cooling rack on a level surface. Pour the filling evenly over the hot crust immediately after removing it from the oven.
Add the pecans: sprinkle all the remaining 3 ½ cups chopped pecans over the filling (and yes, it looks like a lot of pecans for that little bit of filling - that's why these bars are so delicious!). Shake the pan gently a few times to help the pecans settle into the sauce.
Add chocolate chips and salt, if using: sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the top of the pecans (if using) and finish the pan with a generous sprinkle of flaked sea salt if desired.
Bake until golden, crackling, and bubbling: bake the bars until the top is deep golden brown, begins to bubble and crackles/ripples across the entire surface, about 34-38 minutes. Nothing should look liquid-y or saucy when the bars are fully baked - the filling should all have solidified into a sugar crust around/over the pecans.
Cool, slice, and enjoy! Let the bars cool fully in their pan on a wire rack. Once cooled, loosen the ends of the bars from the pan with a knife, and remove them from the pan using the parchment overhang as a sling. Slice bars to serve and enjoy!*4
Notes
*1Boozy bars: the alcohol in the bourbon cooks off in the oven as these bars are in there for quite a while. Ultimately, it just adds a little complexity to the flavor, but if you'd rather leave it out altogether, feel free!
*2Pecan chop: Be careful not to chop up the pecans too much as a good chunky pecan topping will help to hold these bars together - chopping into quarters or thirds is plenty and I like to do it by hand so I don’t get as much dust as a food processor produces. That said, you’re more than welcome to just pulse them a few times in the processor instead to chop them up if that’s your preference.
*3Food Processor Size: if you have a smaller food processor, you may want to make your crust in two batches and if you do not have a food processor, you can just work the butter into the mixed dries by hand.)
*4How to get a clean slice: if you’re having trouble slicing the bars, you can chill them for an hour or two in the fridge so they firm up to make for easier slicing.
Bite-sized bars: you may notice the servings for this recipe are "bite-sized bars." Because these bars are nice and rich like traditional pecan pie, and packed with flavor, I always cut them very small, into about 1" x 2" rectangles. They keep really well, for 2 to 3 weeks, so I'm never worried about having extra's around!
Inspiration: this recipe was inspired by and adapted from a recipe I found a few years ago from America’s Test Kitchen.
It’d mean so much to me if you could please give the recipe card a ⭐ rating on the site and leave a comment to help others find this sweet recipe! Xo, Jocelyn @ Mint+Mallow