Pecan Pie Cookie Bars

Name: Pecan Pie Cookie Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Ingredients: 1 3/4 cup flour; 1/2 cup castor sugar; 1/4 cup corn flour; Pinch of salt; 3/4 cup butter (chilled and cut into cubes); 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1/2 cup maple syrup; 1/4 cup butter; 2 1/2 cups pecans (toasted); 1/2 cup whipping cream; 1 tsp vanilla

Buttery shortbread bread cookie crust with a brown sugar, maple pecan filling that is crunchy and fudgy in every bite. A simple eggless thanksgiving dessert.

It is pie season. I meant thanksgiving is supposed to be pie season but that doesn’t mean you HAVE to make pie. It means that you can make desserts that taste, sound and feel like pie but doesn’t have to be pie exactly. You know what I mean?

If you don’t know what I mean, everyone loves pecans and pecan pie this time of year but what if it told you, these Pecan Pie Cookie Bars are a cross between cookies, pie and a bar? It has the best of all three categories and makes are a very delicious dessert for the season.

The recipe is broken into 2 parts, the shortbread cookie base and the pecan pie filling. It is eggless and includes basic pantry ingredients that make it easy to whip up in no time. The recipe also doesn’t require any fancy equipment to prepare. Which makes it more approachable for all your beginner bakers looking for fun sweet recipes to make during this season.

What ingredients & equipment do you need to make these Pecan Pie Cookie Bars?

To make the base we need flour, cornflour, butter and sugar. A little salt can go a long way. The pecan pie filling is brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, pecans, whipping cream, vanilla and salt.

As for equipment we need an 8×8 inch square tin, baking paper to line the tin. I have used a food processor to make the base for the mixture – you can use your fingers and bowl. We need a small sauce pot to make the pecan pie filling and a rubber spatula.

What substitutes can you use to make these Pecan Pie Cookie Bars?

Flour –

Instead of the all purpose flour you can use self raising flour, cake flour and to make it gluten free you can use Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour mix (cup for cup measure).

Butter-

I have made this using vegan butter and it works well. I wouldn’t recommend using coconut butter but a butter spread like neutralite or margarine.

Sugar –

I have used two types of sugar to make this recipe, there is Castor sugar in the base and Brown sugar in the filling. You can use icing sugar in the base or granulated sugar. To make the filing you need light or dark brown sugar for it to get that fudgy center.

Maple syrup –

Instead of the maple syrup you can use golden syrup, honey, light corn syrup or dark corn syrup.

How to make these Pecan Pie Cookie Bars?

We start by preheating the oven to 180℃, line an 8×8 inch square tin with baking paper. In a food processor add the ingredients for the shortbread and pulse together until it is crumbly and damp. It should look like damp sand in texture. And when you press the mixture together in your palm it must form a little ball. The mixture will be dry and not a formed dough which is fine. Transfer the mixture into the lined tin and use your fingers to press the crumble mixture into the tin. This will take a little effort as if you don’t pack it in well the base won’t hold its shape as it bakes. Place in the fridge and let it set while we make the pean pie filling.

To make the filling we add the brown sugar, butter, and maple syrup in a sauce pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Take it off the heat and add the pecans, whipping cream, vanilla and salt into the mixture, place it back on the heat and boil the mixture for 4-6 minutes. It will bubble up so you need to keep stirring the mixture. Pour the mixture into the shortbread base and even it out with a spatula. Bake for 20 minutes at 180℃ until just set. The top will look crinkly and crunchy. But the center will still be a little soft. Let this cool down completely – ideally in the fridge. Slice and serve with milk or coffee.

Storing and serving the Pecan Pie Cookie Bars?

I would recommend to serve these with milk or coffee. If you want to make this an elegant dessert then serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream. I would recommend storing this in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 2 weeks and 2 months in the freezer.

Now that we have covered how to make this Pecan Pie Cookie Bars, you can have a look at the recipe video on my socials but let’s get to it.

If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to share it with me on instagram so I can see how it turned out. I’d love nothing more than to chat with you on your cooking/baking.