Made with brown butter and maple syrup, you’ll love the sweet and salty flavor in each bite of brown butter pecan pie bars. They’re so much easier than baking an entire pie!
Though these bars aren’t shaped like your typical pie, they’re every bit as mouthwatering in square form. Especially when that square combines not only pecan pie + crust, but brown butter, quality nuts, pure maple syrup for extra flavor, and a sprinkle of sea salt on top.
Why We Love Pecan Pie Bars
While I don’t usually like to stray from the classic, unadulterated pecan pie—I do believe there is room for both traditional pecan pie (here’s my favorite pecan pie and pie crust recipe!) and jazzy pecan pie (and even mini pecan pies and pecan pie cheesecake!). Who doesn’t want a little jazzy every now and then?? These pecan pie bars are certainly jazzy and there’s so much to love about them.
- Deliciously flavored with brown butter, brown sugar, and sea salt
- Made with maple syrup which adds flavor and takes the place of corn syrup that’s typically used in pecan pie recipes
- The shortbread crust is soft and simple
- Lots of wonderful crunchy and gooey texture in every bite
- The pecan pie topping is sweet and salty
- They’re easier to make than an entire pie—no pie crust to chill and roll
- A fun alternative to the classic pie and perfect for serving a crowd
- No mess to clean up because they’re easy to eat and transport!
Brown Butter Shortbread Crust
Brown butter brings a whole new level of flavor to these pecan pie bars. It’s the same crust as my salted caramel apple pie bars, only doubled to make a larger batch and—of course—made with brown butter. All you’ll do is brown some butter on the stovetop, then mix it with sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour. Press it into the pan and pre-bake for a few minutes while you make the pecan pie topping. So simple yet so delicious! If you like the brown butter and pecan combo here, you’ll love it in these dark chocolate pecan cookies, too.
Here’s a full tutorial on how to brown butter. It’s quick and easy.
Pecan Pie Bars Without Corn Syrup
I chose to make these pecan pie bars without corn syrup and formulate a way to have maple syrup get the job done. It works like a charm here. You’ll boil butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and cream together into a syrup—then temper the eggs. Now before you go running at the term “tempering” let’s chat about it for a second.
Tempering means you’ll add a hot liquid to the beaten eggs. If you add the eggs directly to the pot of boiling ingredients—guess what? You’ll have some funky scrambled egg sauce. By slowly whisking *some* of the hot syrup into the beaten eggs, you are slowly bringing up their temperature—not shocking them. And then you’ll slowly drizzle and whisk that warm egg mixture into the pot. This way you’re avoiding that funky scrambled egg situation that sounds, and probably is, horrifying.
For an entire pecan pie made without corn syrup, try my maple pecan pie!
How to Make Pecan Pie Bars
They’re truly easier than pie!
The flavors marry together wonderfully between the brown butter, maple, toasty pecans, and brown sugar. I’m not a fan of cloyingly sweet pecan pie, so I added a sprinkle of coarse sea salt (or you can use flaky sea salt) on top of the baked bars. They’re crunchy in some places, soft in others. Moist with big chunks of delicious pecans on a bed of brown butter. It most certainly doesn’t get better than this.
Like my cranberry crumble pie bars, blueberry pie bars, cherry pie bars, and apple pie bars, this process is much easier than an entire pie! Both great (easy!) additions to your favorite Thanksgiving pie recipes 🙂
Brown Butter Pecan Pie Bars Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch pan or line with parchment paper leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out. Set aside.
- Slice the butter up into pieces and place in a light-colored skillet. (Light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning.) Melt the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring occasionally. After 5-8 minutes, the butter will begin browning—you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan and it will have a nutty aroma. Once browned, remove from heat immediately and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, stir together the brown butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir in the flour until evenly combined. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and heavy cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk to combine the ingredients and dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minutes. As it is boiling, carefully spoon 1/2 cup of the mixture into a glass measuring cup. Slowly drizzle it into the beaten eggs. Stir frequently to keep it moving so the eggs do not scramble. Once the 1/2 cup mixture is added to the beaten eggs, slowly drizzle and whisk this back into the pot. The trick is to always be stirring/whisking to avoid scrambling the eggs. Remove from heat, stir in the pecans, and pour evenly over the crust. Sprinkle the top with sea salt, if desired.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out *mostly* clean. If the top is getting too brown as it bakes, loosely cover with aluminum foil. Remove from the oven, set on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Cover and store leftover bars at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
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