Chewy Maple Nutty Bars

Recipes

Breakfast, dessert, mid-afternoon snack? We’re convinced these bars could be all of those, mainly because they taste just as good to us any time of the day.

This recipe may look difficult to pull together, but trust us when we say it’s as easy as pie to make. These bars can be whipped up for a school bake sale, lazy Saturday afternoon, or a nice gift to bring home to Mom.

Chewy Maple Nutty Bars

(yields 9 bars)

Ingredients

For Crust:

  • 1 stick of softened, unsalted butter
  • 1 and ⅓ cups flour
  • ⅓ cup ground pecans
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

For Filling:

  •  ⅓ cup Meridan Hill Maple Syrup
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • ½ stick of salted butter
  • 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
  • 1 and ½ cups chopped pecans
  • ½ cup whole pecans
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan or line with parchment paper.
  3. Place all ingredients for the crust into a large bowl. Using a standing mixer or handheld mixer, mix until all ingredients are combined.
  4. Pour mixture into 8-inch making sure to cover the entire bottom and pressing mixture firmly down.
  5. Bake the crust for 20 minutes and then set aside to let cool.
  6. Grab a sauce pan and add maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, and heavy cream.
  7. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.
  8. Once the mixture has thickened and covers the back of a spoon, remove from heat and add chopped pecans and vanilla extract.
  9. Pour mixture over the baked crust, topping with whole pecans.
  10. Bake for another 20 minutes and then place on a cooling rack for 1 hour.
  11. Cut into squares and enjoy one or two!

If these go as fast at your house as they do in ours, you can always double or triple the batch to make more bars.

Source: https://newengland.com/today/food/chewy-maple-nut-bars/