How to Make Nutty Pecan Bars | Easy Two-Part Recipe

Simple sweet traybakes are the best in my opinion. They’re easy to prepare and they don’t take many different ingredients. And the results are more often than not really good. A great example is the chocolate brownie – super easy and delicious.

This pecan bar is certainly simple and extremely tasty. Made up of two layers – a base which is kind of like a nutty biscuit dough, but more buttery, and a topper which resembles a very runny cake batter.

After baking and once the layers have set it turns into sweet, chewy, gooey, nutty deliciousness! If you’re not into pecans, you can use any other nut instead.

This recipe fits perfectly in a 21cm x 16cm (8.5in x 6.5in) tray. You can double the recipe if you have a regular sized baking tray. Any tray will do as long as you adjust the ingredients and as long as it has at least 2.5cm (1in) high sides.

You’ll get 12 small bars or 6 large squares from this recipe.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the base –

60g (2.1oz) dark soft brown sugar

120g (4.2oz) white flour (I used bread flour, but AP will work too)

2g (0.07oz) cinnamon (optional)

100g (3.5oz) butter

100g (3.5oz) chopped nuts

For the topping –

130g (4.6oz) dark soft brown sugar

10g (0.35oz) white flour (I used bread flour, but AP will work too)

1g (0.035oz) salt

2g (0.07oz) baking powder

5g (0.17oz) vanilla paste or essence

1 medium egg (50g, 1.75oz)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150C (302F) fan off.
2. Make the base. Combine the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Mix well and break up the brown sugar. Crumble in the butter until the mix turns into a dough.
3. Press the dough into a non-stick paper lined baking tray. Sprinkle the pecans all over and press them into the dough.
4. Bake for 20 minutes.
5. Start making the topping a couple of minutes before the timer goes off. Combine the sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix well and make sure the sugar is not lumpy. Add the vanilla and the egg. Whisk until smooth.
6. Take the base out of the oven and pour the topping all over it in an even layer.
7. Place the tray back into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
8. Leave to cool down at room temperature for around 2 hours before removing from the tray and cutting into portions.