I dare say these pecan pie cookie bars are 10 times better than regular pecan pie. A brown butter shortbread cookie crust topped with a bourbon and medjool date filling makes them absolutely to-die-for! These are the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving dessert spread or snacking on any time of year!
You might also like these chai spice cookies or these butter pecan cupcakes!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these pecan cookie bars!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
Medjool Dates - The secret ingredient in these pecan cookie bars is Medjool dates! They help sweeten and thicken the filling and add incredible flavor! Medjool dates have a rich, almost caramel-like taste and a soft, chewy texture. You can find Medjool dates in the produce section at most grocery stores!
Bourbon - This is optional, but I love the extra flavor it adds to the filling!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Brown Butter Shortbread Crust
This shortbread cookie crust is made with brown butter and brown sugar for extra flavor!
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mix together the browned butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until combined. Then fold in the flour and mix until the dough comes together.
Cut a parchment paper sling slightly smaller than the width of the cake pan and make sure it fits flatly in the bottom. Then lightly spray the bottom and sides of the pan with a vegetable oil based spray (I love Bakers Joy or Everbake). Place you parchment paper sling in the bottom of the pan and smooth it out so that it sticks to the pan spray (you can use metal binder clips to secure it to the pan). After baking you’ll be able to just slide the pecan pie bars right out of the pan!
I love all of my USA Pan cake pans because they are extremely sturdy and truly nonstick. However, I still like to prepare my pans to ensure the cookie bars come out easily.
Press the dough into your lined baking pan and smooth into an even layer. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork to allow air to escape while baking.
Bake the crust at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.
Remove from the oven and let cool while you make the filling (the crust does not have to cool completely before filling).
Pecan Pie Filling
Roughly chop the pecans and the dates.
Combine the butter, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, and heavy cream in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk to combine the ingredients and dissolve the sugar.
Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minutes while stirring frequently. Carefully spoon about ¼ cup of the mixture into a glass measuring cup to temper the egg.
Whisk the egg in a small heat-safe bowl and slowly drizzle the ¼ cup of syrup into the egg as you continue to whisk (whisk continuously so that the egg doesn't scramble). Once the egg and ¼ cup of syrup are fully combined and smooth, then pour back into the syrup mixture and stir until combined.
Remove from the heat and stir in the Medjool dates, pecans, and cinnamon.
Pour the filling evenly over the slightly cooled cookie crust.
Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. If the top begins to get too brown, loosely cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time.
Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool all the way to room temperature in the baking pan.
Once cool, use the parchment paper sling to pull the pecan cookies out of the pan and then slice into bars.
You can also cut the pecan pie cookie bars into smaller squares if desired!
Recipe Tips
The most important step in making these bars is tempering the egg. I know that sounds scary, but I promise it's not that hard! Tempering just means that you'll slowly add a small amount of hot liquid to the beaten eggs so that the temperature rises slowly and they don't scramble (trust me, you don't want scrambled eggs in your pecan pie filling).
Once the filling mixture begins to boil, you'll remove about ¼ cup and place it into a glass measuring cup (the best for pouring hot liquid) and then slowly drizzle the syrup into the beaten eggs while whisking. Then you'll add the warm egg mixture back into the rest of the syrup. Easy peasy!
Recipe FAQ's
Store the pecan pie bars covered in the fridge for up to 4 days.
You can use unsalted room temperature butter instead, if desired.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Pecan Pie Cookie Bars
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Brown Butter Crust
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, substitute room temperature unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Pecan Pie Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon bourbon, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 10 medjool dates, chopped
- 2 cups pecans, chopped
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Brown Butter Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9x9 inch pan with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix together the browned butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt until combined. Then fold in the flour and mix until the dough comes together.
- Press the dough into your lined baking pan and smooth into an even layer. Poke a few holes in the dough with a fork to allow air to escape while baking.
- Bake the crust at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and let cool while you make the filling (the crust does not have to cool completely before filling).
Pecan Pie Filling
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla, and heavy cream in a large saucepan over medium heat. Whisk to combine the ingredients and dissolve the sugar.
- Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 3 minutes while stirring frequently. Carefully spoon about ¼ cup of the mixture into a glass measuring cup to temper the egg.
- Whisk the egg in a small heat-safe bowl and slowly drizzle the ¼ cup of syrup into the egg as you continue to whisk (whisk continuously so that the egg doesn't scramble). Once the egg and ¼ cup of syrup are fully combined and smooth, then pour back into the syrup mixture and stir until combined.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the Medjool dates, pecans, and cinnamon.
- Pour the filling evenly over the slightly cooled cookie crust.
- Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. If the top begins to get too brown, loosely cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time.
- Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool all the way to room temperature in the baking pan.
- Once cool, use the parchment paper sling to pull the pecan cookies out of the pan and then slice into bars.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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Andrea says
Can the recipe be doubled for a 9x13? Would baking times double?
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes I like to double it for a 9x13! The baking time doesn't quite double, start by increasing for 5-10 minutes and check to see if a toothpick comes out clean.
Alison says
These were SO YUM!! The dates seriously took it to the next level!
Brianna says
One of my favorite pies in cookie form!
Jessica Stroup says
AMAZING! So, So, So GOOD! And your pictures are stunning!
Jessie says
These cookie bars look amazing! Browned butter is one of those flavors I never get tired of!
Gourmet Vegetarians says
This sound ridiculously good. Love any kind of baking with pecans in it!
Lindsay says
These are a dream!
Tiffany Smith says
I enjoy the tips and explanations of the terms. Newbie in the kitchen and I usually spend way too much time trying to figure out what the steps actually mean! LOL
Katie says
This looks so good and I love your tip for getting the bars out of the pan easily!