Maple Pecan Pie Shortbread Bars

What could be more of a treat than maple pecan pie shortbread bars with golden syrup? These bars are little slices of homely heaven – so comforting and delicious.

Jump to:

• ✏️ Recipe creation
• 🥘 Ingredients notes
• 🔪 Equipment
• 🍱 Storage
• 💭 Top tips for success
• ♻️ Variations
• 🥧 Serving suggestions
• 🧁 Other goodies
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

✏️ Recipe creation

I got the inspiration for these bars from an actual pecan pie (I mean, yeah, I guess that’s probably obvious). I love pie, but you can’t really have a quick slice with a cup of tea or coffee. These maple pecan pie shortbread bars are the perfect snack size portion.

Instead of using a shortcrust pastry base, I swapped this for the crumbly goodness of shortbread. It’s far easier to make from scratch than pastry and I love the crumbly buttery texture of shortbread – it just melts in your mouth!

Traditional pecan pie isn’t usually made with golden syrup, but these pecan pie bars are made without corn syrup, using golden syrup instead. If you've not got golden syrup on hand, you can make homemade golden syrup or check out these easy golden syrup substitutes instead!

The buttery shortbread base is topped with a gooey maple and golden syrup layer, and laden with pecans. The pecans are coated in the sugary filling and this helps them to toast up nice and sweet as the bars bake.

They’re perfect for a bake sale or make a great gift to friends and family. They’re also super easy to make. The shortbread is so simple and quick to make for the base.

🥘 Ingredients notes

• Start with room temperature ingredients. It makes it so much easier to fully combine your ingredients!
• However, with the butter for the shortbread base, you only want to take it out of the fridge 15-30mins before you start baking. If it’s too warm your shortbread dough will be really sticky. It will still taste great, but it’s harder to press into your tin.

• Always sieve your flour and baking powder. I used to be a bit lazy and skip this part, but it really makes such a difference to get you a lump-free mixture.

• When measuring your ingredients, I always recommend using weights rather than cups where possible for greater accuracy. Accuracy is important for the amount of flour used.

• Tate & Lyle's Golden Syrup can be hard to find in certain countries. It’s basically a cupboard staple here in the UK! You can make your own homemade golden syrup to use in this recipe, or check out these best alternatives for golden syrup.

🔪 Equipment

I use the following equipment for this recipe:

• 9-inch square baking tin
• Greaseproof paper (parchment paper)
• Electric hand mixer or stand mixer (or whisk / fork)
• Medium mixing bowl
• Sieve
• Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
• Weighing scales (or measuring cups)
• Measuring spoons
• Knife

Equipment tips

• I like to use digital scales for weighing my ingredients as it's easier and more accurate than other scales.

• Use measuring spoons for your teaspoon and tablespoon amounts where possible. Be sure to level off the heaped ingredients in your scoops before adding them to your mix.

• When using your baking paper/parchment (greaseproof paper) to line your baking tin, leave a slight overhang above the sides of your tin. This will help you to easily lift your bars out once they’re done.

🍱 Storage

You can store your bars in an airtight container. They should keep for up to 4 days stored at room temperature.

If you like your bars a bit firmer, you can store them in the fridge instead.

💭 Top tips for success

• Coarsely chopping your pecans will give them a nice crunch, but they'll be small enough pieces that it will be easier to slice and bite into your bar. I tried this with whole pecans and it was a bit of a mess really! Still tasty though.

♻️ Variations

I love pecans, but if you’re not a huge fan you could try swapping them out for a different nut or even a mix of nuts.

If you don’t like the taste of maple, I’ve also tried these bars using honey instead of maple syrup and they’re delicious!

Had a tough day? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. Add a tablespoon or two of your favourite bourbon/whiskey to the pecan filling mix and reduce the cream by 1 tbsp. It’s delicious and gives it that extra kick of flavour and a boozy twist to your treat.

If you’re looking for a gluten-free alternative, you can simply swap the plain flour for a gluten-free plain flour blend. Be sure to check the label of the other ingredients you buy, just in case there is a note about cross-contamination.

🥧 Serving suggestions

These pecan pie bars can be enjoyed fresh from the oven. If I’m eating them hot, I like to top them with a scoop of vanilla or clotted cream ice cream, or a dollop of thick cream just like a real pecan pie. Serving them with custard also goes down a treat too!

Alternatively, allow them to cool and eat your bars cold with a nice firm and caramelised layer.

They’re also tasty if you firm them up more in the fridge. Something about that cold bite just really does it for me.

🧁 Other goodies

Looking for more goodies to bake?

If you love a shortbread bar or slice, then check out my easy recipe for Bakewell shortbread slices or the classics - lemon bars and millionaire’s shortbread.

Nuts for pecan? Me too! Give these white chocolate pecan cookies a try - they've got that gorgeous, lightly toasted, pecan crunch.

Or how about these crunchy pecan brownies or no-bake pumpkin spice pecan praline cheesecake? They make the best Fall pecan desserts!

If you love pecans, you might also like this collection of the best pecan desserts.

Other Related Recipes:

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📖 Recipe