pecan pie brownies

My dad loves pecan pie so for Christmas I made him some pecan pie brownies from a recipe I found here.  He loved them and said they were addicting (you have now been warned) but delicious.

Let me just go ahead and say that when you start making these you are probably going to think that you ruined them – I thought so but they turned out fine.  Just keep going even when you think you messed up (plus I’m going to tell you what happened to me so hopefully you won’t panic).  Because of being panicky that everything was ruined I failed to take very many pictures – oops.

for the brownies you need flour, sugar, butter, eggs, cocoa, salt, and vanilla

The recipe says to melt the butter and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat so I dumped both things in the saucepan.  This was my first boo boo.  Because the cocoa powder was in the pan with the butter it was difficult to get it to melt since the powder sort of prevented the butter from touching the bottom of the pan and melting.  I was really afraid the cocoa would burn but it ended up being fine – it just stressed me out.  If I make these again I will either melt the butter first, then add the cocoa powder or just skip the saucepan altogether and melt the butter in the microwave then add everything.  I don’t think it will make a difference.

The next step is to add the sugar.  This part also made me quite nervous.  When I added the sugar it looked so gritty and dry; neither of us (Michael or me) thought that it was right but we checked the recipe and it seemed as though we did it correctly.  I knew I still had flour to add so I was just sure that something was wrong – no way would I be able to add flour to this mixture and get anything edible!  But I continued with the recipe and added the eggs and vanilla – lo and behold the eggs provided enough moisture and it looked fine!

The batter was still very thick but at least it looked like batter.  I added the flour and salt as directed, stirred it up, and put it in the pan.  However, when I licked the spoon I thought the batter tasted terrible – not at all like the brownie batter from boxed brownie mixes.  That made me even more nervous so I poured a little bit of it in a mini muffin tin so I would be able to taste it once it was finished baking (I didn’t want to cut into the brownies) and I had Michael on standby ready to to buy a box of brownie mix in case these tasted terrible.

I tried my little mini muffin brownie and had Michael tried it as well – we both thought it tasted great!  Michael thought it tasted like fudge pie.  So if you’re feeling nervous about your batter, stick with it and it will probably turn out great.

for the topping: eggs, butter, pecans, corn syrup, vanilla, and brown sugar

Thankfully this part was much easier – just dump all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together

pour over the top of the brownies and bake

Recipe (from here):

Ingredients

for the brownies:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

for the topping:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups pecans, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325F. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter with the cocoa over medium heat (Caitlin’s note: may want to melt the butter first before adding in the cocoa), stirring and removing from the heat as soon as the butter melts. Stir until smooth, then stir in the sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla until smooth, then add the flour and salt and stir just until combined.

Pour into an 8×8-inch baking dish that has been buttered or sprayed with nonstick spray; smooth the top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, then let cool completely.

To make the topping, stir together the brown sugar, syrup, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the pecans and pour over the base. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden and set.

Let cool completely, then refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.