I made a recipe that was enough to feed the hungry masses in the office, no doubling or tripling the recipe required.
The recipe for these pecan squares comes to us from Ina Garten. The recipe relies on honey and citrus zest for flavor, which give them floral notes that are different from traditional pecan pie. The ingredients are a bit daunting (2 1/4 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of pecans, almost 4 cups of sugar) and this recipe will be costly, but the results are delicious. Be sure to line the pan with a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil, making sure you extend it over the sides by an inch or two. This will help you avoid a mess in your oven and make it easier to get them out of the pan. Since these are made in a sheet pan, I was able to use a favorite trick, using a rolling pin and plastic wrap to roll out the (very sticky) dough for the base. The rolling pin evenly flattens the crust and gives a nice lip along the sides:
You can find the recipe here. I dipped them in melted chocolate as Ina did. If you'd like to do that, I melted 1/2 pound of 60% bittersweet chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water. When it was melted, I took the bowl off the heat and stirred in 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
I plan to play around with the recipe a bit to mix up the flavor and come up with a version that makes fewer squares (I cut them much smaller than Ina recommends and got 60 bars--she suggests 20!).
17 comments:
I saw Ina make these the other day and they sure did look delicious! I couldn't believe the amount of butter, but I guess if you cut them into 60 squares that makes it okay! They look so yummy!
Oh wow, these look delicious!! My daughter just found out she loves pecans. I bet she would love these!
Oh my goodness, I clicked over to the recipe and saw that it has over two pounds of butter, plus cream, plus chocolate! That's a lot even for Ina. They look great, of course.
I like how you can see your healthy bowl of fruit in the background.
Oh wow, that is a lot of butter, though Ina does love her butter and sugar and chocolate. I don't think I've ever seen her use less than 3 or 4 sticks to make a baked good :) What matters though is that you were able to feed all of the coworkers - yay!! I bet these were a huge hit.
Love the rolling pin tip - great idea!
Yowzer! I just showed these to my husband and we're both drooling. He's a HUGE pecan pie fan. I think these bars will be in my future very soon!
Wow, these look scrumptious. When I saw your picture, the first thought that came to mind was, these looks sticky buns without the bun part :o) Glad you were able to feed everyone with this recipe.
National Pecan Day? For reals?? How did I not know about this? Those treats look so flippin' good!
I saw Ina make these too! I love this sticky, gooey, caramelly, nutty chocolatey treat! Hand me a couple napkins and I will go to town.
(I thought Ina cut them waaaay too big!)
I would love to make these but I dont think a square would fit in my daily food point allowance. LOL They look killer. Maybe for a potluck, which... I do have one coming up. Bookmarked!
LOL...Ina's all about generous portions...I always cut them way smaller, too. This has been a hit around here for sometime now...pecans and chocolate, Mark's favorite combination!
Sending the topping right over..hee hee:) Your cake looks amazing!
Thank you for then nice comments on my daughter. We are so happy we found this out while she is young and can make a difference now instead of later.
I want to say something but am too busy drooling to get words out. This looks great!
Yikes, those suckers look FAN-tastic! They must have loved you at work! :o)
Ooh...they sound wonderful and decadent (in more ways than one). I'll have to try it.
Looks yummy good!
YUM! This recipe looks to die for!
I love this recipe! Had no idea about the pecan holiday, sorry to have missed it as they are one of my favorites to bake with!
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