Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars and a Dinner Guest
As much as I’d like to be, I am not the “Hostess with the mostest”.
Yeah….only in my dreams!
Having people over for dinner usually sends me into a state of panic. Needless to say, we don’t have many dinner guests. So, I don’t know what possessed me, but a few weeks back I invited a total stranger over for dinner. It all started several months ago when a Swiss Paleo reader (Hi TJ!!) sent me an e-mail to say that her husband was being transferred to Switzerland and that they would be moving here in about a year. We traded a few messages back and forth about living in Switzerland (you know, important things like where to get your hair done), and then I got a message saying that her husband would be in town for business for a few days. I went to crazy town and invited him over for dinner. It’s pretty intimidating to invite somebody for dinner when you are a food blogger. Their expectations of my cooking skills probably far outweigh my actual abilities!
Stellar cooking skills
When I picked up my mystery guest to bring him home, we had a good laugh because it turns out he was a little nervous for this blind date that his wife had set him up on, too. My husband and I had a great time getting to know Dan and we talked his ear off about Switzerland. He was a wonderful dinner guest and he gets bonus points for eating what I cooked (and even having seconds!). I served up a very casual dinner of grilled bratwurst from my favorite farm to give Dan a true taste of Switzerland, my favorite salad (the “Julie Salad”), baked sweet potatoes and roast vegetables. For dessert (because, yes, having company is all the excuse I need to make up a paleo dessert), I tried out something new. I’ve been wanting to make something pecan pie-like for my daughter who loves pecan pie, so this poor dinner guest got to be my guinea pig.
If you are ever coming to my neck of the woods, just let me know and maybe I’ll invite you to dinner, too!
These are super easy
Ingredients
For the Bottom Crust
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Top Pecan Pie Part
- 8 oz (225 grams) pitted medjool dates
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 1-2 oz (25-50 grams) 85% dark chocolate, melted
What to Do
For the Crust
- Put all of the crust ingredients together in a food processor and mix.
Love my food processor
- Press the dough down into an 8×8 parchment lined pan.
Parchment paper makes for easy removal
- Prick with a fork a few times and bake in a preheated 350 F (175C) oven for 15 minutes.
For the Pecan Pie Part
- Add everything (EXCEPT the nuts and chocolate) together in a food processor and whiz until smooth and creamy.
- Pour this over the crust after it has baked for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle the cup of chopped pecans over the top and return to the oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
Cover with nuts
- Let it cool on the counter and then drizzle the melted chocolate over the top.
Drizzle the chocolate
- Chill before cutting into squares.
Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour
- 1 egg
- 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 Tablespoon arrowroot powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 oz (225 grams) pitted medjool dates
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- 1-2 oz (25-50 grams) 85% dark chocolate, melted
Instructions
- Put all of the crust ingredients together in a food processor and mix.
- Press the dough down into an 8x8 parchment lined pan.
- Prick with a fork a few times and bake in a preheated 350 F (175C) oven for 15 minutes.
- Add everything (EXCEPT the nuts and chocolate) together in a food processor and whiz until smooth and creamy.
- Pour this over the crust after it has baked for 15 minutes.
- Sprinkle the cup of chopped pecans over the top and return to the oven and bake for another 30 minutes.
- Let it cool on the counter and then drizzle the melted chocolate over the top.
- Chill before cutting into squares.
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We can’t thank you and your husband enough for your generosity! I feel the exact same way about entertaining so I can appreciate how crazy it is to invite a stranger to dinner. Dan had a wonderful time. He actually wanted to eat MORE food, but he was too embarrassed 🙂 Oh, and he said these Pecan Pie bars were delicious! I can’t wait to make them. And I hope I can be a dinner guest when I come out in December. I’ll be your guinea pig any time!!
Dan was awesome and made the whole “entertaining” thing very easy for me. Very excited to have you both over in December! And now you know that I’m a far cry from Martha Stewart 😉 so the pressure is off.
I got to eat some of the leftovers of these Pecan bars…..they were as delicious as they look!! But that was no surprise….Mrs Swiss Paleo makes THE best treats ever!!!
<3 My only real success is the cookies the kids love so much. One of the best treats is something I had at your house....tasted like rice krispie treats with chocolate on top. How telling is that that I have such good recall of the treats I've loved?!
Would that work with walnuts instead of pecan? I am not a big fan of them
Sure, you could use any kind of nut you like. We have a Swiss torte here which is very similar but made with walnuts and it’s delicious 🙂
This is now a household favorite. I make it almost once a week. I have requests from family, friends and co-workers all the time! Cannot thank you enough for introducing me to this fabulous recipe! Thank you!
Hi Lilly,
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know how much you all enjoy them!
Could one omit the arrowroot? It isn’t SCD.
Hi Elizabeth,
There is only 1 Tablespoon so it probably wouln’t make a huge difference. Let me know if you try it and how it works out 🙂
I used Elana Amsterdam’s pecan bar crust, but this filling – except I only added 2 T of maple syrup, and scattered chocolate chips over the top. It tastes great – thanks for the recipe.
Hi Elizabeth,
Thanks for the follow up 🙂 I love Elana’s recipes and of course anything with chocolate chips over the top sounds good 🙂