Pecan Bars

It’s Spring Tea time at our local historical museum, and that means I’m baking.

The volunteers who run the teas do a great job of figuring out what needs to be made and how much to make, so they usually just give me a recipe to produce. Usually it’s scones, but this time I made pecan bars.

These are quite simple – kind of a pecan pie filling in bar form. They’re very sweet but I cut them into tiny squares for the tea.

I love that they’re a one-bowl recipe – with a scale, it’s pretty much just dump and mix. Mine cooked pretty quickly, and I took them out after 20 minutes.

Pecan Bars
Makes 60 small squares.

Ingredients
16 oz. light or dark brown sugar
8 oz. butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups self rising flour
2 cups chopped pecans
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar with the melted butter until combined. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the flour and gently mix again. Add the pecans and vanilla and mix well. The batter will be stiff.

Spread the batter in the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown. Place pan on a rack to cool completely, then cut into squares.

• Pecan Bars (Sunnyvale Historical Society and Museum)