Recipe: Maple Pecan Pie Bars (2024)

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updated May 1, 2019

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These maple pecan pie bars bring you all the flavor of pecan pie, with none of the fuss.

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I’ve always felt very neutral about pecan pie. You won’t ever find me rushing to make pecan pie, but I certainly won’t turn down a slice if it comes my way. These maple “pecan pie” bars, on the other hand, are a fantastically different thing. In fact, they are everything I’ve always wished pecan pie would be, I just didn’t know it yet.

The Challenges of Pecan Pie

Maybe I’m just overly particular, but it’s rare when I find a pecan pie that strikes a perfect balance of, well, pecan and pie. Maybe it’s too ooey-gooy, or perhaps it has a soggy crust, or possibly the flavor even falls a little flat. And considering my Southern roots and penchant for redoing recipes, one would think I’d have come up with my own solution already.

But nope, it wasn’t until I was given the oh-so-tough (yeah, right) assignment for our Thanksgiving Gathering this year — to create a perfect pecan pie in handheld form — that I even stopped to think about it. But think about it I did, and what resulted was a fairly simple yet very amazing dessert. As it turns out, putting pecan pie in bar form eliminated those otherwise fatal flaws I mentioned.

A Few Tweaks to a Classic Recipe

My recipe renovation started with considering the crust. I wanted the ease of shortbread but one that didn’t crumble if you looked at it wrong, and so I had to to think about both ingredients and technique. Ultimately I decided on a blend of cake flour and all-purpose flour, to yield a tender yet durable crust. I replaced more traditional powdered sugar with brown sugar, to better marry with the flavors with the impending filling. Of course high-quality butter was essential, and a splash of vanilla just seemed like the right thing to do.

A Press-in Crust

After looking up a million different shortbread techniques — food processor, stand mixer, pastry cutter — the method that grabbed my attention from a few different websites was for a melt-the-butter, pour-it and press-it-in kind of crust (think graham cracker or chocolate wafer). I’ll admit I was intrigued but not optimistic. But I went for it anyway, and boy, was I wrong. It was so delicious, not to mention the easiest thing in the history of ever — no more dragging out special equipment or stressing about over-processing the dough!

A Pecan Filling with a Maple Twist

For the filling, I wanted a firm texture with a complex taste that managed to still be all about the pecans. Personally I think maple is the quintessential pairing for this favorite nut, so it seemed like a no-brainer to use it for these bars, while brown sugar and butter added a caramel note. I finished off the filling with a dollop of creme fraiche and a healthy glug of vanilla extract to add a luxe finish to the dish. A generous pinch of salt brought each of the elements together.

Putting It All Together

The true test, however, would be if the individual parts would harmonize as a whole. And so I waited rather (im)patiently for the caramel-y pecan bars to set before I went at them with my knife. I politely sat down at my desk with an adorable sliver, ready to examine my creation. And then I meandered back in the kitchen, because I “needed” to “test” it a little bit more. With every tiny slice came another, then another, until I balked at the fact I had just managed to Pac-Man half the pan. (And while calorie counting isn’t really my thing, I vaguely understood the diet crime I had probably just committed.)

But oh-my-gosh, I couldn’t resist! It was so. Very. Good. When I finally came up for air, I had to call for reinforcements. (a.k.a my very generous friends who come to “take these kinds of things away.”) And so a few neighborhood pals arrived to save me from myself, but they too caved under the pecan pie pressure. We were all just too weak.

To put its yumminess into perspective I made it two more times that week and have plenty of plans for more. I have a funny feeling its simplicity might be the end of me. (Which I guess means so much for death by chocolate?)

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