I love Christmas time! I can embrace my inner inept baker and bake to my heart’s content. A friend of mine, named Gail is also not really a “baker” but she is an amazing cook! I would dare say she is one of the best cooks I know. The funny thing about Gail is, she is a total tornado in the kitchen. Earlier this week, I was over at her house and she just up and decided to make cookies and start dinner. In a little over an hour we cranked out oat cakes, pecan bars, spicy grilled chicken and rice. Everything was tasty, as usual, but these pecan bars were out of sight! They were so tasty that I went home and made another batch for myself.
Just to help you understand the greatness that is Chewy Pecan Bar Cookies, imagine a nice pecan pie falling head over heels in love with a blondie. When these two fall in love and have a baby, it’s a pecan bar! I found this recipe in an amazing cookbook called “Home Baking” The artful mix of flour and tradition around the world, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It is a great cookbook so if you ever see it, take it home! (well, pay for it and then take it home.)

Enjoy!

Chewy Pecan Bar Cookies

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter melted)
3 cups packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325. Lightly butter a 13 by 9 inch baking pan.
Combine the butter, brown sugar, salt and vanilla in a large bowl. Stir in the eggs. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, then stir in the chopped nuts.
Pour the batter into the buttered pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown on top and a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. ( the bars will brown before they are cooked, so you’ll have to bake them a little longer than you might think)
Let them cool completely in the pan on a rack before cutting into squares, or rectangles as you wish.