It doesn’t happen often.
But sometimes, I throw kale caution to the wind and make a full-on-no-substitutions-no-hidden-veggies dessert.
I didn’t even add in chia seeds. I know. Who am I?
Truthfully, it was partly because I was making these for friends and partly because I was craving a good old fashioned chocolate chip cookie. I didn’t have the right ingredients to make a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe so I played around with a few things and the end result was a chewy, sweet, nutty cookie bar.
They came out quite good. So good that I made them twice in the same week. Oops. But sometimes you just need a real dessert. Am I right?
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PinDescription
These ooey gooey pecan bars are a cross between pecan pie and a chocolate chip cookie!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cups oats
- 1/2 cup flour (I think a gluten free blend would be fine)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Spray an 8×8 baking pan with non-stick spray.
- Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer, whatever you have) beat together to brown sugar and butter until combined.
- Beat in the vanilla, maple syrup, and egg, until combined.
- Add in the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir by hand.
- Once it’s well mixed, stir in the pecans and chocolate chips.
- Press into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, until it begins to brown.
I’d recommend having a place to take these though because my goodness they’re tempting. I’ve got some singing their little siren song from my counter right now…
But sometimes you just need something sweet, right? You might want to just go ahead and pin these for later. Just to be safe.
Honestly, I usually try to lighten my desserts a little, so it was fun to make the “real” thing. Mmm. Chocolate.
These look amazing! I’d love to make these for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I typically try to lighten desserts that I make during a normal week; however, any dessert for a specific event is likely to be the ‘real’ deal 🙂
These look so good! I don’t usually lighten desert recipes. If I’m craving something sweet I go for frozen fruit, dark chocolate or just the desert itself! It’s def easy to go overboard sometimes though. Especially when my husband is on a cooking baking kick!
We all could use more chocolate in our lives <3
You are very right! I almost always try to “healthify” my desserts, but I support going with the real thing once in awhile too. These look delicious! Pinning.
These look wonderful!
I love nuts in baked goods!!
I make light desserts if I want to have something to snack on before bed. If it is for a special occasion I all go all out!
Oh, my! These look fantastic. I like jacking up cookies with oats and nuts but I don’t try to cut calories with artificial sweeteners.
Looks delicious! Pinning these for sure!
Yum! I totally go both ways on dessert – I like to bake healthier versions but also enjoy making the real thing. If I am bringing dessert to someone’s house, I usually make the real deal unless they request something healthier.
Unless I’m making banana nice cream, I go ALL OUT for desserts: butter, flour, etc. I love a good chocolate chip dessert recipe 🙂 PINNING.
As much as I love to make healthy swaps, sometimes you just need the real thing. For example, I never mess with cake! Especially frosting. I need the real, butter and sugar filled good stuff!
I have a major sweet tooth. And chocolate is my weakness. These look so yummy!
I don’t bake very often, so I almost always go for the good stuff when I do! Cookie bars are always yummy and these look awesome. And they have oats in them, that’s healthy right? It’s basically health food 😉
These look awesome. And, YES, sometimes you just need to go for the goods. At least there were no hidden preservatives! So for me that’s healthy!
Yes, sometimes you do need a real dessert – These look divine!
sometimes, you just need DESSERT 😉
Hehe… I smiled at your introduction. It’s true that sometimes a ‘healthy sweet’ isn’t quite satisfying, and truthfully I might often want to eat more of a healthy sweet than a regular sweet. Sometimes I just go for a bit of icecream or cookies or cake. 😉
Sometime you haVe to throw caution to to the wind and go with the real thing. These look really lovely!!!
So excited to try these, they contain all my favorites! Love me some chocolate, pecans and oats!
Screw that I always go for the real thing. Lol. 🙂 I love my baked goods and they’re meant to be “good” for a reason – it’s good to add nuts and healthy fruits but if I want cake.. GIMME CAKE! 🙂 Those look great btw and I understand why you made them twice in one week. I did that this past week with a chocolate pound cake recipe I found. It was spec-tacular! Have a great one Liz! -Iva