#94 - Pecan Caramel Bars

When Emily's grandmother passed away earlier this year, one thing that was left to her was a box filled with Grandma Jean's recipes. Since we're not big fans of Michigan's Upper Peninsula's cuisine, what we were most excited about was the desserts. Grandma Jean made lots of delicious cookies and bars, and when we found this one, we thought we'd give it a shot.

Pecan Caramel Bars

From Jean Beck These are pecan caramel bars, so you're going to need to have pecans and caramel candies. And we didn't know what Oleo was, so we used margarine instead. You start out making the dough, which is the base of the bars. Then you melt the caramels, and mix with pretty much all the other ingredients, and pour over the partially baked crust. Grandma Jean didn't let us down. These were really tasty and even though it seemed like they would be too sweet (with all the caramel candies and brown sugar), they actually tasted really good with some vanilla ice cream. Yum! Here's all it takes:

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 28 Kraft caramels
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup pecans, chopped

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Cream 2/3 cup margarine and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the flour and mix well.
4. Press the dough into the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking pan.
5. Bake the dough for 15 minutes.
6. In a small saucepan, heat the caramels, water, and 1/4 cup margarine over low heat.
7. Melt, stirring occasionally until smooth.
8. In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
9. Gradually add the caramel sauce and mix well.
10. Stir in the pecans.
11. Pour the mixture over the baked crust.
12. Bake for 15 minutes.
13. Cool completely and cut into rectangular bars to serve.