You know what I like about these bars? Everything. They were easy to make, very fast, tasty, they made the house smell delicious and they are a perfect fall treat for noshing on with a good sized mug of hot cocoa and whipped cream.
They came about because I was sitting home alone, bored, getting over a cold and therefore in sore need of some comfort food. I didn’t want the usual sort of snack–cookies, brownies, etc. Or more honestly, I didn’t have enough chocolate on hand for the usual snack. Instead, I sifted through the 300 or so recipes in my Evernote cookbook tagged with “dessert” and found a recipe for pecan pie bars.
I didn’t have pecans…but I did have a Costco-sized bag of almonds. Plus I knew that with a bit of extra cinnamon thrown in, the bars would basically be like eating candied almonds atop a shortbread crust. And yep, that’s pretty much what they are. Delightfully, they’re not too sweet at all–so they won’t push you into sugar shock if you eat one or two with a good helping of my homemade cocoa.
Ingredients
- Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything
- 2 c. flour
- 1/3 c. raw sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 12 tbsp cold butter
- 3 large eggs
- 1 c. light corn syrup
- 1/2 c. raw sugar
- 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tbsp vanilla paste or 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 c. raw whole almonds
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13" pan with baking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and butter for the crust. With your fingers, press the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs (or give it a few spins in a food processor).
- Dump the flour mixture out into the prepared pan and press it down into a nice even layer. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Beat the eggs, corn syrup, sugars, melted butter, cinnamon and vanilla in a medium bowl until everything is well incorporated. Add in the almonds. Make sure they get thoroughly coated in the sugar mixture.
- When the crust is done baking, pour the almonds and sugar mixture on top and spread the almonds out a bit. Put the pan back into the oven for another 30 minutes.
- Let cool for at least an hour and then slice into bars.
