Firstly, Happy New Year to you all! Hope you have all had an amazing Christmas and holiday break. Over here at BBH, we are starting as we mean to go on – by eating! These little slices of pecan pie heaven are EVERYTHING. My mum even said they were the best things I’ve made – big statement coming from my biggest critic. You only need one bowl and a whisk and it’s super easy to throw in the oven!

There’s a soft, buttery shortbread base topped with a melt-in-the-mouth maple caramel filling packed to the brim with sweet pecans. The slices are pretty heavy so you only need a tiny bit to satisfy all your pecan pie cravings. I added an optional extra layer of coconut caramel spread and desiccated coconut in between the base and the filling – it just added to the indulgence. If you can’t get hold of this spread, you can use any spread you like to make the bars more exciting – try peanut/almond butter, cookie butter or even Nutella for a super decadent treat.

 

For the base:

150g plain flour

60g light brown sugar

115g softened butter

 

For the optional layer: 

2 tbsp coconut caramel spread

desiccated coconut

 

For the pecan pie filling:

60g light brown sugar

70ml maple syrup

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

100g pecans

pinch of sea salt

Adapted from here

 1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Line an 8” square tin with baking parchment on the bottom and grease the sides of the tin with butter.

2. In a bowl, add the softened butter to the brown sugar and flour and rub it in with your fingers until crumbly but combined. Press in to the prepared tin in an even layer and bake for 18-20 minutes.

3. For the filling, combine the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and egg and mix with a whisk. Add the pecans and stir.

4. Once the base is cooked, brush some spread over it and sprinkle over the desiccated coconut. Remember, this step is optional so feel free to leave it out if you want to.

5. Pour the filling over the base and even out the pecans. Sprinkle over a good pinch of sea salt and bake for 18-20 minutes until there’s a very slight wobble in the middle. Leave the whole thing to cool completely in the tin.

6. Once cooled, tip it out of the tin (this is where greasing the tin and using baking parchment comes in handy), and slice in to bars.

To sum up 2015, all I can say that I’ve been doing is going to uni, baking, blogging and buying copious amounts of make up. New Years resolution? Graduate law school and buy less make up! (Steep, I know). To all my readers, near and far – I wish you the best of health and happiness in 2016.