A new treat in my recipe box

Sometimes, you never know if something you have made is good or not. A lot depends on someone's tastes or familiarity with a certain type of food. However, from the first time I made these Pecan-Pie Bars I knew I had a hit. The recipe is from Epicurious.com and I have no real adjustments to it but you do not need a food processor to make these wonderful treats, just use a pastry cutter and knife and you can be done in less than hour.

The only time I had made anything like these was during a catering phase in my life when I worked for a local caterer. One of their specialities was that they did their own baking. And since I joined them during the holiday season, I was in charge of the baking. So I made all kinds of cookies and bars including a nut bar.

But since that time, I had not done anything with nuts. Generally, I find it is safer, especially when preparing food for other people, to not put nuts anything like cookies or cakes. The thing that struck me about these pecan-pie bars was that they were very similar to an old See's Candies nuts and chews confection.

So the first thing I do is to cut the butter into small pieces and then blend in all the ingredients for the shortbread crust. The recipe calls for a food processor here but just a minute or two with a pastry cutter will make this mixture into nice small lumps. I used cold butter which helps keep the dough crumbly and dry. Since the crust has a lot of butter already in it, I use a non-stick pan but do not grease it in anyway. I bake it for approximately 20 minutes at that magical baking temperature of 350 degrees. I then get ready to prepare the filling.
While the shortbread crust is baking away, time to start chopping pecans. I don't chop them to bits, just a nice bite size morsals but recognizable to the eye. My biggest concern is dropping the cutting board or having flying pecan pieces going all over. While I am chopping the pecans, I have started my caramel mixture on the stove, by melting the butter, brown sugar, honey and cream.
After the nuts are all chopped, I add them to the caramel on the stove and just lightly mix in. You are now down to one easy step of pouring the mixture onto to the hot crust and waiting another 20 minutes for your pecan pie bars. I let them cool for about an hour or so and then cut into bars, you could make them small, like pieces of candy because they are so sweet and chewy. They store really well and they will be a hit wherever and whenever you make them.