To-Die-For Maple Pecan Squares

For the crust-

 •1 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened

 •1/2 Cup White Sugar

 •2 Cups All-purpose White Flour

 •1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

 •1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

For the Ooey Gooey Goodness-

 •4 Large Eggs

 •1 1/2 Cups 100% Pure Grade B Maple Syrup

 •1/4 Cup All-purpose White Flour

 •1 Tbsp Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice

 •1/2 tsp. Sea Salt

 •1 Cup Pecan Halves

Preheat oven to 350° 

In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, 2 cups flour, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix very will until nice and creamy/doughy. 

Pour contents into a 9×13 inch ungreased glass baking dish. Using a spatula, spread the mix along the dish to create a nice, even crust. It will be very very sticky, so be patient! 

Place the crust in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until it begins to turn golden brown. 

While the crust is baking, in another medium bowl, mix together all of the remaining ingredients with a hand mixer. Add the flour slowly to allow it to blend in better with the other ingredients. Does your mixture look like a soupy mess? 

Good! You are on your way to maple perfection! (Please note that my mixture has a yellow foamy layer on top. This is cause by using duck eggs in my recipe. I am unsure whether or not chicken eggs will create the same effect, so if yours doesn’t have this yellow foam, don’t worry!) 

By now it’s probably time to remove your crust from the oven… 

Place the dish with the crust on a cooling rack or the stove (for storage purposes only; there is no need to allow the crust to cool). 

Pour the mixture in the bowl onto the crust. Your mixture will have the consistency of water; don’t fear the runniness! 

Sprinkle the pecans evenly on top of the concoction. Some will float, some will sink, don’t worry about it. 

Put the baking dish back into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool to a reasonable temperature before placing on a cooling rack in the fridge. Allow to chill several hours, or better, overnight. Cut into squares and serve! 

The yield on this recipe depends on whether or not you can resist eating these as you cut them…. But you should be able to easily get at least 20 large squares out of this.

Recipe Source: http://thepescetarianandthepig.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/to-die-for-maple-pecan-squares/