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Home » Recipes » Brownies & Bars

Apple Butter Pecan Bars

September 22, 2022 by Sarah Marx Feldner Leave a Comment

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Apple Butter Pecan Bars

These bars are a product of my beloved Treat Bake Shop. A spiced and candied nut company by day, we transformed into a cookie shop every Friday and it was absolutely magical while it lasted!

This quintessential fall recipe was inspired by the crisp autumn air - and living and breathing all things pecans for the past 5+ years.

Adding romance to memory, I still reminisce about the late-afternoon drive along the country roads to a favorite orchard where I hand-selected a diverse variety of apples that would go on to fill our kitchen with the heavenly aroma of slow-cooked apple butter.

(Adding reality to memory, I only got my daughter to partake in this after school field trip by bribing her with the promise of an apple cider donut.)

Happy Fall Baking! 🍂

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Apple Butter Pecan Bars

Apple Butter Pecan Bars

  • Author: Sarah Marx Feldner
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Category: Bars
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Apple butter is available at most well-stocked grocery stores.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup pecans, toasted (120 g)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, divided (120 g)
  • 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats (120 g)
  • ¾ cup packed light brown sugar (160 g)
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 g)
  • 1 tsp fine-grain salt (like table or sea salt)
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 ½ sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces (12 TB, 6 oz)
  • ¾ cup apple butter (225 g)
  • 2 TB granulated sugar, for sprinkling (25 g)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
  2. Butter a 9x13 metal baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. In a food processor, pulse the pecans with ¼ cup (30 g) flour until finely ground. Pour into a large bowl with the oats, stir to combine, and set aside.
  4. In the now empty (but still “dirty”) food processor bowl, blend together the remaining ¾ cup (90 g) flour, brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, salt and cinnamon. Then, add the cold butter and pulse until a dough begins to form. Transfer to the bowl with the pecan-oat mixture and, using your hands, knead until well combined.
  5. Reserve ¾ cup of the dough, then press the remainder evenly into the prepared 9x13 pan and spread the apple butter over it (it will be a thin layer). Crumble the reserved dough evenly over the apple butter and then sprinkle with the 2 TB granulated sugar.
  6. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until golden and bubbling slightly around the edges, 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Notes

  • Grinding the pecans with the flour (vs. on their own) prevents them from getting oily and clumpy. Do be sure the toasted pecans are completely cooled before processing.
  • If fully embracing fall, homemade apple butter takes these bars from great to OMG. Once a year, I'll go to the apple orchard and buy as many varieties of apples as available to make a huge batch of this overnight apple butter.
  • These bars definitely highlight the salty-sweet flavor profile. If that's not your thing, just back off on the salt ¼ teaspoon or so.

Keywords: apple butter, pecans, fall recipes, apple recipes, fall baking, apple orchards

Did you make this recipe?

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