Cooking with the Neelys: Chewy Pecan Bars & Hot Toddy
Gina and Pat Neely from Food Network's "Down Home with the Neelys" appeared on today's show to share their recipes for delectable Chewy Pecan Bars and Hot Toddys!
When you've got your hands full with cleaning, you don't have time for a full-on dessert stop. But these pecan bars will tempt you and "hit the spot," in addiction to making an incredible snack-pack treat when you're on the go. Scrumptious brown sugar and chocolate are oozy, gooey and satisfying, and they're the perfect reward for a day of hard work.
Makes 36 Squares
Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
Filling
1 1/2 packed cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups pecans, toasted, roughly chopped
1 cup mini-chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving 2 inches of overhang to use as handles to remove the bars at the end of baking.
Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl. Cream together the butter and light-brown sugar, using a hand mixer, in a separate, large bowl, until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.
Gradually pour in the dry mixture, and beat until the dough looks like coarse, pea-sized lumps. Use your hands to form the dough into a ball, then transfer it to your prepared baking pan and press down evenly to fill the pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden.
To make the filling: combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, flour, bourbon, vanilla, salt, eggs, pecans, and chocolate chips in a large bowl. Remove the hot half-baked dough from the oven, and spread the filling over the crust. Return the pan to the oven, and bake for another 25 minutes, or until the top is puffed and brown and cracks begin to form. Let cool for 45 minutes before slicing into squares.
For more information, visit FoodNetwork.com.
Hot Toddy Receipe
Ingredients
3 whole cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
1 cup brandy
3 tablespoons honey
2 lemons, wedged
8 cups cider
Directions
In a large saucepan add all the ingredients. Whisk together and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour into glasses and serve.
For more information, visit FoodNetwork.com.
Comments
I just love Anderson! I am devasted that his talk show is going off the air. Why? With so many stupid talk shows, why would they take his darling show off the air????????
I loooove the Neely's! What a great recipe. I can't wait to make it. I will also run to the store today to buy their newest book. thanks for a great show. Love Anderson, too. Keep the silver fox on the air with this adorable feel good show. All the crazy talk shows and they take him off the air? come on people!
in your directions you list light brown sugar and vanilla but you don't list them in the ingredients. what is the amount of each i'am supposed to use????????????? thanks
Wish I would have known that earlier today when I made the chewy pecan bars. I did the crust without the brown sugar or vanilla because they were not in the ingredients list for the crust & there were no measurements given for those ingredients in the crust. They tasted okay, but probably would have been better with the right crust!
I enjoy the live Anderson Cooper show. You are such a joy. I tape your show everyday so I can watch it when I get home from work. My daughter is 8 yrs old likes to watch when she comes home from school. I love the co-host they are fun and lively. Thanks for all you do. I pray that God will take you to places you need to report safely and bring you back home to your family and show. Have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Years.
Help! I am a little confused here and need help ASAP. I started making this for Christmas dinner tomorrow and am confused about something. It says to make the crust, to mix the butter and brown sugar and vanilla and fold in the dry mix to make the dough.Then it says in making the filling that you combine the brown sugar, corn syrup...........
Am I supposed to use 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar in the dough and then another 1 1/2 cups of brown sugar in the filling? Or split the brown sugar 50/50 or what? In the list of ingrediants for the dough it doesn't call for any type of "Brown sugar at all, but says to mix the butter and "Light brown sugar" in the directions.Then the list for the filling it calls for "light brown sugar", yet the directions just say "brown sugar.
Please help me. It's 2 AM and I need to get up and finish preparing this early in the morning since I can't figure it out tonight.
Thank You,
Susan
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The recipe is confusing. It states there is brown sugar in the crust and in the filling. How much goes into the crust and how much into the filling?
What an exceptional person you are. While you may not have had a typical childhood, your parents, or someone influential must have instilled in you an inherent goodness for it's the little things that, accumulated, make you one of the nicest people I know. Wait a minute, I don't know you; my loss.
Little things that most people ignore, two example: removing sunglasses when talking with someone; being discreet with one's feet. I used to be a flight attendant and, years ago, the woman who played Major Houlihan in the movie MASH, was in First Class and she removed her shoes and rested both her feet on the bulkhead in front of her - GROSS!
You are just so thoughtful and your staff's Christmas song to you today demonstrates how nice a person you are.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and the very best in the coming year.
I thoroughly enjoy your show.
Best wishes,
Grace
Priceville, Ontario, Canada
The crust ingredients should also include: 1/2 cup light brown sugar and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
I got the ingredients together to make the bars but the recipe for the crust doesn't mention brown sugar but if you read the directions it calls for brown sugar in the crust as well as the filling. HELP!