Chocolate bourbon pecan pie bars

Blake is a pie guy. I am a cookie, brownie, cake, bread pudding, and ice cream girl. Give it all to me except pie, which makes my husband sad.

They say marriage is about compromise though and I'm all about baking. Given this, I have committed to giving pie another try. Pie makes Blake happy. Happiness is a beautiful thing.

I have a few pies to my name and I'm still working out what makes for my perfect flaky pie dough. I know its definitely all butter. All butter. All the time. My favorite part of pie is the filling. I especially love cream pies, which essentially remind me of pudding. But the pie project is for Blake and he is more of your traditional fruit pie guy or the occasional pecan pie.

 Blake also quite enjoys bourbon and chocolate and I enjoy desserts in bar form. That is how I came to make these chocolate bourbon pecan pie bars from Joy the Baker's new cookbook Homemade Decadance. I liked these bars a whole lot and so did Blake. They lasted 4 days in our house. Although in our defense, we shared some with a friend. Three to be exact. We shared 3 bars of about 15. Generous. These bars consist of a buttery crust layer topped with a pecan, chocolate chip, bourbon filling. If you too want to bring a little joy to any of your relationships, I highly suggest a batch of these.

Chocolate bourbon pecan pie bars
Adapted from Joy the Baker

Pie crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
13 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoons salt

Filling
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick), melted
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" by 13" baking dish with butter.

For the pie crust, in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a handheld electric mixer with beaters), combine flour, confectioners sugar, butter, and salt. Beat until crumbly, about 4 minutes. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and press with your fingers evenly across the bottom of the dish.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until slightly browned. Remove from oven but leave the oven on.

For the filling, in a medium bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, honey, eggs, bourbon, and salt until completely combined. Stir in pecans and chocolate chunks. Pour the mixture over the baked crust, distributing the chocolate and pecan pieces evenly.

Bake until set, 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely, before slicing.