These easy pecan pie bars have a gooey brown sugar pecan pie filling on a buttery pecan shortbread crust! All of the flavors of the best pecan pie with a little bit of maple syrup.
Preheat the oven to 350° and generously butter an 8 inch square baking dish. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a large sauce pot (or you can use an actual double boiler if you want).
Make the Filling:
Place a medium bowl over the simmering water in the saucepot. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. Melt butter in the medium bowl.
Remove from heat and add sugar and salt, stirring until completely combined. Add eggs, maple syrup, corn syrup and vanilla; stirring until smooth.
Place bowl back on sauce pot and let cook, stirring occasionally, until your crust is ready. The filling will be shiny and look slightly thickened.
Make the Crust:
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pecans, cornstarch, and salt. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or with your hands. You could also do this in the food processor, which also saves the time of chopping the pecans.
Press into lined baking dish and bake 10-15 minutes, or until it has browned slightly.
Assemble & Bake:
Add pecans to your filling mixture, stir, and pour onto the hot shortbread crust.
Bake 17 to 22 minutes or until the filling looks set but yields like Jell-O when gently pressed with the back of a spoon or your fingers.
Let cool completely on a wire rack. Several times during the cooling process I cut around the edges to facilitate removal of the bars.
Cut into squares when cool.
Notes
Toast whole Pecans on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer for 10 minutes in a preheated 350° oven, or until you can smell them and the light parts of the pecans have turned a light golden brown. Coarsely chopped pecans will toast faster!Flavor Tips – Use Grade A: dark amber color and robust flavor maple syrup because it is thicker. Otherwise the filling will be runny.Technique – Pre-baking the crust until golden brown will ensure a crisp crust.Variations – Try adding chocolate chips, a tablespoon or 2 of Bourbon, or using a different nut.Storage – After cooling, store bars at room temperature for up to 3 days, refrigerated for 10 days or frozen for 3 months. If freezing, slice them and layer them between parchment or waxed paper before wrapping well.