Despite the lengthy recipe these come together pretty quickly (if you have a good thermometer for the caramel) They are really good but decadent–I like to give these as gifts.
Ingredients
Crust
14 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to just warm
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups (9 oz) flour
Caramel Topping
2 cups pecan halves, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
Ganache
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (about 1/2 cup), finely chopped
6 Tbl heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 9″x13″ pan with foil and spray sides with Pam.
Crust
In medium bowl stir butter, brown sugar and salt. Stir in the flour to make stiff dough. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan. Prick the dough all over with fork and freeze until firm 5-7 min. or refrigerate for 30 min.
Bake dough 20 min. then reduce oven to 300 degrees and bake another 15 min. until crust is golden all over and completely set. (Mine never takes this long–usually just 20 min at 325 degrees).
Topping
Sprinkle pecans evenly over crust.
In medium saucepan bring brown sugar, cream, butter, corn syrup and salt to boil over med-high heat, stirring until all ingredients are melted and smooth. Let mixture continue to boil, without stirring until candy thermometer registers 240 degrees. Immediately pour caramel evenly over crust. Let bars cool completely, about 2 hours.
Ganache
Put chocolate in small bowl. Bring cream to a boil in small saucepan. Pour over chocolate and stir gently until smooth.
Fill plastic zip-top bag with Ganache and drizzle decoratively over top. Let set 30-60 min. Cut into small bars.
They keep for a week at room temp.
