We had been to New York last month and happened to taste a wonderful pecan bar. Ever since I have been searching for a good recipe to bake it myself, but all I found had eggs in it. Yesterday I went to the library and I found a recipe for eggless pecan bars in Martha Stewart's Cookies book. The recipe is from John Barricelli, Martha's longtime friend and she herself tells that she has tried lots of pecan bars over the years, but John's are the absolute best. So how can I not try it, when it is eggless too?
Recipe
Eggless Pecan Bars Recipe
A very easy recipe to prepare eggless pecan bars for any occasions!
Need To Convert Measurements?Check out the Baking Measurement Chart!
Ingredients
Ingredients For The Crust:
- 1 Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons (2 And ¼ Sticks) Unsalted Butter At Room Temperature
- ¾ Cup Light Brown Sugar Packed
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 3 Cups All Purpose Flour
Ingredients For The Filling:
- ½ Cup (1 Stick) Unsalted Butter
- ½ Cup Light Brown Sugar Packed
- ¼ Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Honey
- 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- ¼ Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups Pecan Halves (I Used Chopped Pecans)
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Procedure To Make Crust:
- Preheat oven to 375F for 15 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl put butter, brown sugar and cream it using an electric mixer in medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Mix in salt.
- Add flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition.
- Continue mixing until dough begins to come together.
- Press dough about ¼ inch thick into a 9 by 13 inch baking pan. (See My Notes)
- Prick the dough with a fork.
- Chill until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Bake it golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Reduce oven to 325F.
Procedure To Make Filling:
- Place butter, brown sugar, honey, granulated sugar, heavy cream in a saucepan over high heat.
- Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 1 minute.
- Remove pan from heat; stir in salt, nuts and vanilla.
- Pour filling into the cooled crust.
- Bake until filling bubbles, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Carefully transfer it to wire rack to cool completely.
- Run a paring knife around edges of the pan and invert onto cooling rack. (See My Notes)
- Invert again onto a cutting board.
- With a sharp knife cut into 1 by 3 inch bars.
My Notes
- Instead of using all butter, I used a combination of butter and Smart Balance 50/50 Unsalted Blend.
- In the original recipe, stand mixer was used to prepare the dough for the crust. Since I don't have one I used a hand held mixer. It's a bit difficult if you are doing it alone because, you have to cream the mixture, simultaneously scrape the edges and also add 1 cup of flour at a time. I was able to do it with the help of my mother and my husband. So be sure to catch hold of your husband while preparing these bars. If you are going to use a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment in medium speed.
- For making the crust, the dough has to be spread evenly in a 9x13 inch pan. This was a little bit tricky. So my husband gave a wonderful idea to do the job neatly. After spreading the dough with a rubber spatula, he asked me to cut a wax paper to the size of the pan and lay it over the dough and then smooth it with my hands. Then my mother gave the idea of using a small vessel on top of the paper to get a smooth finish. Both the ideas worked out very well.
- I was not able to invert the bar on the cooling rack because it was sticking to the pan. So I cut them into small bars in the pan itself and removed it using a spatula.
- Bars can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Did You Make This?I love seeing what you made! Leave a review comment below and be sure to tag me at @EgglessCooking when you share a photo!
Debbie Young says
Use parchment paper in your 13X9 pan and your cookies with lift right out to cooling rack!!!
Madhuram says
Yes..that's a good idea. I was not aware of it then. Those were my initial days of baking.
Nina says
Tasted great, but in my opinion there was too much crust not enough filling. I wound up doubling the filing recipe. Really good though!
sarah says
Have you ever thought about using powdered sugar in addition to the flour to make the crust it seems like this would help since your pressing it into the pan. I know I have a cookbook that uses powdered sugar to make a crust for lemongrass
Madhuram says
Oh! it's new information to me Sarah. Thanks.
Whitney says
These were Fantastic!! Thank you for all your recipe ideas.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Whitney.
Savithri says
Thanks for sharing the great recipe. I tried making it and it was a total hit!
You're welcome Savithri.
Lyn says
The eggless recipes look yummy and esy to follow . This is the first time I visited your site.I am sure going to try some recipes. Its awesome to know that flaxseed is a subsitute for egg.
Lyn
Thank you very much Lyn.
Hayley says
I love pecan pie, so I know I would love these. Plus, no corn syrup!
Vidya says
Hi Madhuram, You're tagged. Please check my blog for details 🙂
Sophie says
We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks 🙂
Jude says
Totally new to eggless cooking so your website has been a great resource for me. I like the tabbed navigation!
Roma says
The step-by-step description of the recipe with pictures is just awesome. Nice candy!
Mansi says
they looks awesome Madhu! man, you have so much time and patience to take those pics all the way! kudos to you for that!:)
Sukanya says
This is so cool. U are making such excellent goodies with out egg. Great job. YUM! 😛
shriya says
It looks like an very healthy bar. And it really tempts me and am craving for it now. 🙂
RedChillies says
That's it! I am packing my bags and coming over to your place Madhuram. Hope you have atleast something left over 🙂
DivyA Vikram says
Bars look healthy and pretty madhu!
priya says
madhuram,
thanks so much for information about flax seeds. I appreciate your quick response.
priya
Vaishali says
These look totally gorgeous, Madhuram. Nice picture.
Cham says
I love pecans but unfortunately we all dislike sweet 🙁 ... This bars re really tempting to give a try!
Madhuram says
Hima, Sangeeth, JZ thank you very much.
Madhu, welcome to my blog. Hope you will try few recipes from my blog.
Priya, yes flax seed meal/powder is a good substitute for eggs. If what you have is the whole flax seed, powder it in a blender/coffee grinder and then use it. Also be sure to store flax seeds in the freezer. Check out my Eggless Brownies post for the ratio of flax seed meal and water.
sangeeth says
I luv the new way of presenting the recipe madhu....u do a lot with pecan gal...luv 'em all
priya says
hi You had mentioned that you can use flax seed meal as an egg substitute.I have something called organic flax seeds.Can i use them?
Thanks.
priya
Madhu says
Madhu, this is the first time i am visiting your site and everything looks so mouth watering. Personally i am still not a real patient cook even after years of cooking, i want everything to be finished in minutes but your recipies look so easy..i am gonna try some
JZ @ Tasty treats says
the bars look delicious! I've never made them, time to give them a try!!
theres something for u on my blog, Madhu!
hima says
Those bars are looking awesome......