Saturday, June 04, 2005

Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

Mexican Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars (Adapted from Frontera Grill - Rick Bayless)

10 ounces pecan halves
6 ounces finely chopped Mexican chocolate, divided
6 ounces fresh white bread, like Pepperidge Farm - broken into large pieces
16 tablespoons melted butter, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks
3 tablespoons flour
4 large eggs
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325

Scatter pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven until lightly browned - about 10 minutes. Cool and place them into food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Remove about 1 1/2 cups of the nuts and put in a large bowl - set aside.

Add half of the Mexican chocolate to the remaining nuts in the food processor and pulse the machine to mix them. Add the torn bread slices. Process until it reaches fine crumbs. Add 1/3 cup melted butter and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Process to combine.

Line a 13" x 9" baking pain with foil and generously coat with cooking spray. Add the nuts/chocolate/bread mixture and evenly pat to create a crust. Set in the refrigerator while you continue.

For the filling mixture, place remaining Mexican chocolate, chopped semisweet chocolate and the flour into the bowl with the reserved pecans. Stir to combine.

In the same bowl of the food processor, mix the eggs and sugar until well combined. Add the corn syrup and pulse to combine. Mix in the remaining melted butter, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and vanilla. When thoroughly combined, pour over the filling mixture and stir well. Scoop everything into the baking dish with the crust.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until the bars have pulled away slightly from the side of the pan. Let cool to room temperature before cutting.

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11 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting! Those look incredible. How did I miss that recipe????

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  2. Anna - hee hee! We *really* liked how this one came out.. it was hard to give them away!

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  3. It looks really good. I'll have to track down some Mexican chocolate and try it.

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  4. Pearl - Do find some if you can, it is so worth it!

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  5. I found it at a latino grocery store and tried it. The results are at the URL

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  6. Pearl - Thanks! Sounds like your changes worked ok!

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  7. I can't wait to try these. Rick Bayless seems like such a nice guy. Thursdays on PBS used to be so good...just a revolving door of good cooking shows, including One Plate at a Time (or whichever). Sigh, no longer. I'm going to have to break down and buy all this guy's books.

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  8. Barb - His books are good stuff!

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  9. Rick's shows are still on. They air on Saturday in Salt Lake City.

    I saw this recipe too. But Rickbayless.com/TV is useless. Too many dead links, no recipes.

    Just wondering, why did you use white bread? Didn't rick use pretzels in the crust?

    Kas

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  10. Kas - Because that is what the recipe calls for on his website! I didn't see the show where he made this, so I have no idea about the pretzels - sorry!

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