I was doubting whether to share this recipe for pecan bars with you because they didn’t come out exactly as I thought they would. I wanted to have a thicker layer of filling, but I used a slightly too big baking tin (20×24 cm) which made my pecan bars look more like big cookies instead. I decided to let my parents, my favourite test team if it comes to my desserts, test them anyway and I told them: I am not sure if these turned out well, but just give it a try. Luckily their first comments after trying a cookie were positive and the next day all the pecan bars had magically disappeared. My dad kept saying the next evening: ‘ohh, it is such a shame that those cookies Karlijn made are gone already’. That comment convinced me to share the recipe with you anyway 😉 They might not look as good as they should have, but they are very tasty!

Because the pecan bars contain quite a large amount of sugar and people with IBS are often sensitive to sugar, it is recommended to only eat one pecan bar at a time.

What do you need (for 12 bars)

For the dough

• 75 g rice flour*
• 40 g sweet rice flour / glutinous rice flour*
• 40 g corn starch
• 110 g soft butter (you can use margarine to make this recipe entirely lactose-free)
• 70 g brown sugar
• A pinch of salt

*If you don’t feel like using different kinds of flour, you can replace the rice flour, sweet rice flour and corn starch for 155 g gluten-free flour mix of your choice.

For the filling

• 100 g pecan halves
• 100 g maple syrup
• 70 g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt
• A baking tin of 20×24 cm or 20×20 if you want slightly thicker bars

How to prepare the pecan bars

This recipe is based on this recipe by Averie Cooks

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Grease the baking tin with baking spray and cover with baking parchment.
2. Put the two kinds of flour, cornstarch, salt, brown sugar and butter in cubes together in a bowl. Knead together with your hands until the dough forms small crumbs.
3. Put the dough into the baking tin and press it with your hands into an even crust. Bake the crust for 16-18 minutes in the oven. Watch the crust during the last minutes of baking because it can burn easily.
4. While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Put the egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extra and salt together in a bowl and mix everything together. Stir in the pecans.
5. Take the crust out of the oven and pour the filling on top. Make sure you give the filling a last stir before you pour it over the crust. That was one of the mistakes I made, and all of the brown sugar was left on the bottom of my bowl, not smart 😉 Make sure the pecans don’t stick out of the mixture because otherwise, the edges might burn.
6. Bake the bar for about 16-19 minutes until the middle of the bar has set and doesn’t wobble. It shouldn’t be too set because the bars will harden when you take them out of the oven. Leave the  bar to cool down outside of the oven and cut it into square pieces.

Enjoy! 

Will you let me know if you make my pecan bars? I would love it if you would share your creations with me using the hashtag #karlijnskitchen on Instagram or by tagging me at @karlijnskitchen

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