Name: Apple Butter Pecan Bars
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 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)

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)

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Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
Butter a 9x13 metal baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
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.
In the now empty (but still “dirty”) food processor bowl, blend together the remaining 3/4 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.
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.
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 1/4 teaspoon or so.