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Pecan pie bars with brown butter shortbread crust stacked on a serving board.

Pecan Pie Bars

Heather Smoke
Easy to make, gooey pecan pie bars with a brown butter shortbread crust.

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5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings16

Equipment

Ingredients
 

Crust

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, browned
  • 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)

Filling

  • ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar
  • ¾ cup light corn syrup
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ cups unsalted raw pecans, roughly chopped

Instructions
 

Crust

  • Preheat the oven to 375 F. Spray a 9-inch baking dish with non-stick baking spray.
  • In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is very fragrant, starts to foam and nutty brown solids form on the bottom of the pan. Immediately remove the pan from the heat.
  • In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the brown butter, scraping up all the golden brown solids, too, and stir everything together into a moist, crumbly dough. Press the dough crumbs evenly against the bottom of the pan.
  • Bake the crust on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until a pale golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly while you make the filling.

Filling

  • Reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
  • In a bowl, whisk together the melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour, until smooth. Whisk in the chopped pecans.
  • Carefully pour the filling over the hot crust. Bake on the center oven rack for 45-50 minutes, until the filling is set.
  • Let the bars cool completely, at least 3-4 hours, before cutting into squares.
Keyword Brown Butter, Pecan Bars, Pecan Pie, Shortbread
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