I don’t have a story for these other than I had a craving and a manic episode, so I made them up by patching together a few different recipes, and now I need to write it down before I forget. I usually find pecan pie to be too sweet and the crust too boring, but using a salted vanilla cookie base, twice the amount of pecans as a usual pie, and adding the warm spices makes these pretty dang wunderbar.

Ingredients:

• Cookie base (crust)
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) of butter (melted)
• Pecan filling
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground clove
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cardamom
  • 2.5 cups chopped pecans (toasted – see instructions below)
  • 1 cup pecan halves for decorating (optional, also do not toast these)

Instructions (base)

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl
3. Add the melted butter and vanilla and stir until the dough comes together
4. Press the dough into an even layer in a 9×13 pan
5. Bake 17 – 20 minutes
   • While this bakes, you can toast your pecans at the same time on a separate baking tray but keep an eye on them – 5 to 10 minutes tops
6. Remove from oven and cool 5ish minutes

Instructions (filling, or I guess topping? idk whatever – this is the pecan part)

1. In a large bowl whisk together the sugars and eggs until well combined
2. Add the melted butter, milk, flour, and vanilla and whisk well
3. Add the chopped pecans, stir to combine
4. Pour the mixture on top of the slightly-cooled cookie crust
5. (Optional) arrange the un-toasted pecan halves along the top – I say this is optional because the filling puffs up and these basically disappear as this bakes but for some reason I still do it. Don’t toast them because they’ll toast as this bakes and if you start with them toasted then you’ll end with them burnt.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes – probably, I’m not honestly sure how long I baked these for because I didn’t set a timer and I only remembered them because I smelled caramelized sugar. Start with 25 minutes and go from there. You can check for doneness by shaking the pan – the filling should not jiggle. I’ll make these again and actually time them and update this step once I do.
7. Let these cool completely before cutting into squares.