Thank you for Fridays. Thank you, thank you. Thank you because it means Pete will be back home, and thank you because then maybe I can go to bed at 7pm tonight? I am serious. I am so tired! We also have family pictures to take tomorrow. Do you guys do yearly pictures? We haven’t been great about it in the last year or two and I kind of freaked out- I don’t want to regret not having more pictures of us as a family during this short time that they are so young, you know? And it’s kind of fun that we will get to have Wilbur in these too. And then we have my girls school auction this weekend. I am making three cakes for the dessert dash. Versions of this, this and this are happening in my kitchen today.
I am also kind of freaking out how quickly November is going! We are half way through already, which means my Thanksgiving excitement is in overdrive. Is yours? I will keep posting this weekend, so look for more new recipes tomorrow and Sunday!
I know that tons of you must be heading to friends and family’s houses for Thanksgiving, and many of you will be responsible for bringing dessert, right?
If (despite all of the wonderful and EASY Pie recipes I have given you) are still feeling intimidated by pie, OR if you are looking for something that you could make and freeze (wouldn’t that be awesome if you just had to unthaw dessert!?) then this is the dessert for you.
Chocolate Shortbread Cookies Crust with a Caramel Pecan layer.
When I made these a few weeks ago, I was kind of in a stage of trying to be pretty healthy. I knew a few things- like that I love pecan pie filling and that I love shortbread anything. But I thought “I will just eat a bite” to “make sure it was good.” Let me tell you. My eye’s rolled back in my head. And then I ate too many “bites.” So many that I gave myself a really bad stomach ache. But that’s my fault. I am sure that you all have much more self control and dignity than I do when it comes to Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars.
If you don’t, then you have my sympathies. Take an alka seltzer.
Otherwise, make these, and pop them in the freezer so that you have a perfect dessert for Turkey day. They look cute piled up on a plate. And if you want to make these in addition to lots of other desserts I recommend cutting these into small squares, as they are really rich and then everyone really does get a little “bite” or two.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×9” baking dish with baking spray.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt. Add the butter and run the processor until the dough comes together. It will be like a shortbread dough.
Hard pack the dough into the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle the pecans over the top of the crust.
Follow with the chocolate chips.
In the a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, sugar, cream, vanilla and salt over medium heat and whisk until smooth.
Pour the caramel over the top of the pecans.
Bake the bars for 25 minutes and then take out to cool completely before cutting.
Recipe: Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
- Chocolate Crust:
- 1 ½ cups All purpose Flour
- ¾ cup Dark unsweetened Cocoa powder
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, cold and cut into small pieces.
- Pecan Filling:
- 1 ½ cups pecans
- 10 ounces chocolate chips
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×9” baking dish with baking spray.
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar and salt. Add the butter and run the processor until the dough comes together. It will be like a shortbread dough.
- Hard pack the dough into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the pecans over the top of the crust.
- Follow with the chocolate chips.
- In the a medium saucepan, melt together the butterm sugar, cream, vanilla and salt over medium heat and whisk until smooth.
- Pour the caramel over the top of the pecans.
- Bake the bars for 25 minutes and then take out to cool completely before cutting.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 25 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 12
I’m don’t usually make layerered bars because I rarely have time for all 3 (or 4) bake-and-cool steps and the payback for nine little bites seems stingy ;). THIS looks like it could convert me! Pecan pie … mmmmmmm
Michelle- the best thing about these is how easy they are. Like you can see in the pictures, they are just a few steps and pop in the oven!
I’ve made regular shortbread pecan pie bars before- never chocolate. I think you found my thanksgiving dessert!
Oh I hope so Collette!!! the Chocolate lends a crazy good edge!
I made these for Thanksgiving and they were beyond good! I couldn’t stop eating them!!
These look awesome, Heather! Pecan pie (CHOCOLATE!! Pecan Pie) is my favorite holiday pie and I love turning it into other desserts! You rocked these bars!!
Hope you get some sleep tonight!
Thank you Teighan- ME TOO!!! (Pecan Pie is my favorite too!)
I knew just from the title that this recipe would be amazing!
These look so rich and delicious!
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Hi, Heather,
Is there no sugar in the shortbread dough, or was than an accidental omission?
Danielle- accident!! thank you. ammending now 🙂
Woah, those bars are stop-you-in-your-tracks amazing looking! I cannot wait to try making them, I love chocolate pecan anything!!
Hi Heather,
Do you think I could substitute coconut oil for the butter?
yes Jill! If you do please let me know how they turn out!
These pecan pie bars with a chocolate shortbread crust look incredible, Heather! I love this twist on traditional pecan pie bars. Thank you for sharing and have an enjoyable and restful weekend! xo
Funny how healthy intensions turn into….THESE! I want a bite so freaking bad!
Have fun taking pictures! Can’t wait to see. Yeah, we don’t do it enough either..
This looks so good!! Yay for Pete being back and giving you a break 🙂 I can’t believe it’s almost time for Thanksgiving! Phew! Where has the year gone?
Heather, these look awesome! I totally want to make these, they are right up my alley. Thanks for sharing.
I love that you made a chocolate crust for these bars!
This recipe did not turn out well for me. I made it before you added in the powdered sugar that was left out originally, and it did not bake through at all. Very disappointed as I had high hopes for this recipe.
Sorry you had a bad experience Emily. Of course, the powdered sugar is an important part of the crust, and would make a huge difference. My apologies. They do have a gooey texture though. I wonder if just that extra cup of powdered sugar would have helped the dough to be stiffer and not give you that “not baked through” texture. I also had to wait until they were completely cool to cut these.
I remade the recipe afterwards because I was determined to make it work! I did have to cool them in the fridge to cut them. I brought them in to work (as I do with all my baked treats) and my coworkers raved about them! Next time I’ll make sure to refresh the website before I begin baking 🙂
OMG Heather!! Everyone will go nuts for these brownies 🙂
I was wondering where to find dark cocoa powder? I wanted to make these and your chocolate pumpkin pie, but I couldn’t find it anywhere ):
I just HERSHEYS DARK which is available at all the stores around here (like Safeway) and is right next to the regular Hershey’s cocoa.
I want to try these, at this time I do not have a food processer. Can I make these with a mixer and by hand.??
Yes! I think you will be fine. Do you have a mixer or hand mixer? If you did it by hand you would really have to work it to get it into a dough.
Is the caramel omitted from the recipe?
Allison- the caramel comes from the sugar, butter and cream cooked together.I called it the “filling”.
I just made these tonight, they look and smell delicious. I would NOT recommend using a hand mixer as the cold butter caused the mixture to really fly out of the bowl making quite a mess! Fortunately I saved most of it and used my small food chopper in 4-5 cycles and worked perfectly. I can’t wait to show these off tomorrow!! *Helpful tip: the dark cocoa does not say that it is unsweetened on the container, but it is (I got a confused call from my husband at the grocery store….)
THANK YOU JESSICA for the tips on doing it without a food processor. and for anyone wondering about the HERSHEYS dark- thank you:)
I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving!
I found these way, way, way too salty! Perhaps 1/2 tsp in the caramel sauce would be enough? The ingredients (pecans, cocoa and chocolate chips) are much too expensive to just throw out a recipe that was unenjoyable to eat.
Hi! Can I use a blender or mixer instead of a food processor?
Thanks!
Ashley
Oh my! This was soooo good!! I highly recommend, even a bit to late… A perfect autumn bar to treat yourself with! 🙂
Magdalena- thank you!! I am so happy that you liked them- perfect for stormy fall weather!
These did not turn out. The dough didn’t bake in the allotted time and it seemed there was WAY too much butter. When I tried to add some more baking time, the bars were greasy and raw tasting. It was a waste of ingredients, especially the butter which is very expensive these days.
Not sure why but mine didn’t turn out. Or rather the chocolate crust didn’t turn out. First it wouldn’t form into dough so I added a bit of cream to get it to. But when it baked and cooled it (the crust) just was like eating chocolate flour. I’ve made shortbread before so know what the consistency is. The topping was yummy. Just disappointed and confused about the crust.
Salt is not listed in the filling ingredient list, yet is added in the instructions for the filling.
Also, why is bake time 25 min and cooking time 12?
Thank you
Servings 12- cook time 25! sorry will amend!
Hello,
Do you have measurements for making this in a 9×13 size pan?
Have you tried putting these in a cupcake pan with liners? Looking for some new treats for Valentines
Does the caramel sauce work at high altitude, or does it need some adjusting? I live at 8200 feet. Thanks.
Hi Karyn, I’m sorry, I am not sure about high altitude cooking?