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Get 6 Easy Cookie Recipes from The Cookie Elf
Each one uses six ingredients or less – and you can make each one in 10 minutes or less!
By Pearl Hall, Snohomish,WA
Pecan Pie Surprise Bars taste just like pecan pie, but arefar easier to make and more portable.
The recipe uses corn syrup and pecans, key to a successfulpecan pie, but in place of a fussy pie crust is a simple cake mix base.
Like other cake mix cookie recipes, these bars can be mixedtogether quickly. The cake mix makes putting the bars together easy because themix saves you steps.
This recipe is not only a winner when it comes tosimplicity, but also in nationwide popularity. It won the Grand Prize in the iconicPillsbury Bake-Off Contest # 22 in 1971, the first time the contest was held inthe great state of Hawaii.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake time: 45-55 minutes, divided
Makes 35 bars
Ingredients
Base
1 package (16 - 18 ounces) yellow cake mix, such as Pillsbury®Moist Supreme® classic yellow cake mix
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
Filling
Reserved 2/3 cup dry cake mix
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 ½ cups dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease 13 x 9 baking pan withvegetable spray.
- Measure and reserve 2/3 cup of the dry cake mix to use forthe filling.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, mixtogether the remaining dry cake mix, butter, and egg until well blended. Pressthe base mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Bake the cookie base for 15-20 minutes or until light goldenbrown.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl using an electric mixer on lowspeed, beat together the reserved 2/3 cup dry cake mix, brown sugar, cornsyrup, vanilla, and 3 eggs until ingredients are combined and well moistened.Increase mixer speed to medium and beat the filling mixture for 1 minute.
- Pour the filling mixture over the warm cookie base. Sprinklepecans evenly over the surface of the filling.
- Bake the bars for 30-35 minutes longer or until filling isset. Remove Pecan Pie Surprise Bars from the oven. Allow bars to cool completely on a wire rack,about 45 minutes.
- Cut cookies into 5 rows by 7 rows (or in any other size youwish.)
- Store bars in an airtight container, with waxed paper inbetween layers, in the refrigerator.
High AltitudeInstructions
Heat oven to 350º F. Stir 1/3 cup all-purpose flour into drycake mix before removing 2/3 cup for filling. Decrease dark corn syrup to 1 ¼cup.
A Special Baking Tip forMaking Pecan Pie Surprise Bars
Pecan pie filling is notoriously sticky. The filling inthese bars is no exception. Make sure you grease the 13 x 9 baking pan verythoroughly before adding the base and filling. As an alternative to protectingthe shape of the Pecan Pie Surprise Bars, prepare the pan by lining it with aluminum foil, allowing endsof foil to extend over two sides of the pan. Coat the foil with vegetablespray. Once bars have baked and are cooled, grasp ends of aluminum foil andlift them from the pan. Peel away the foil and proceed with cutting bars.
More Winning Pillsbury Bake-Off Cookie Recipes
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Chocolate Chip-Peanut Butter Squares from Bake-Off #38 ...
Cinnamon Toffee Pecan Cookies: just 6 ingredients ...
Pineapple Coconut Bars from Bake-Off #35 ...
Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies: Just 2 Ingredients!
Pumpkin Pie Bar Cookies: easier than pie!
White Chocolate Key Lime Calypso Bars: from Pillsbury Bake-Off #40 ...
All about the Pillsbury Bake-Off and its cookie winners ...
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