Black Friday Pecan Bars

This year I have a lot to be thankful for, including spending Thanksgiving at my friends’ house. However, I didn’t want to miss out on leftovers so I skipped the Black Friday madness to stay home and make a post-Thanksgiving dinner, complete with pecan bars for dessert. These bars are delicious and taste very similar to a pecan pie, except they are a little less sweet because the filling is sweetened with honey instead of lots of sugar.

Pecan Bars

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Pecan Bar recipe

For the Crust

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, 

   room temperature

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

For the Filling

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups (8 ounces) pecan halves

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make crust: Put butter and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in salt. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition. Continue mixing until dough begins to come together in large clumps.

Press dough about 1/4 inch thick into a 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Pierce the dough with fork. Chill until firm, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, while waiting for dough to chill, preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Bake until golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Reduce oven to 325 degrees.

Once crust is almost completely cool, begin to make the filling: Place butter, brown sugar, honey, granulated sugar, and heavy cream in a saucepan over high heat. Bring to boil, stirring constantly until mixture coats back of a spoon, about 1 minute. Remove pan from heat; stir in salt, nuts, and vanilla. Pour filling onto the cooled crust.

Bake until filling bubbles, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use a sharp knife to cut into 1 by 3-inch bars. Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week (I think they taste best the day after they are baked.)

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

Even after all these years, every time I write the word “bananas” on my shopping list I hear Gwen Stefani singing in the back of my head. Anyway, I digress.

Two of my favorite ingredients to bake with are bananas and honey so when I saw a recipe in Oprah’s Cookbook for Banana Pecan Honey Bread I knew I had to try it. 

This is hands down the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried; it’s dense, moist, and the honey is just sweet enough to cut through the acidity of my very large cup of French Roast coffee in the morning. Yum! 

1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 ripe bananas , mashed (1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 stick butter , softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In a small bowl, combine bananas, milk, honey, and vanilla. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Beat just until blended. In a small bowl, combine nuts with remaining one tablespoon flour and mix well; add to batter. Pour into prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of bread comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack 10 minutes.

Run a knife around inside rim of pan to remove bread, peel off paper from bottom, and cool completely on a wire rack.