Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

It's officially fall and that means it's time to preheat that oven! This is the time of year I start going into baking mode and I'm especially anxious to get in the kitchen. One treat I recently tried were these Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars made by a friend. I liked them so much, I made them myself (prior to my gluten free lifestyle.) They came out delicious and I plan on making these again for the holidays. These bars are a chocolatey spin on traditional pecan bars... yum!

Although I've recently found out I have a gluten sensitivity, it's not going to stop me from baking up goodies in the kitchen. In fact, I've been doing quite a bit of research and talking to some folks about gluten free baking. I've got a whole pantry of various flours and blends I look forward to play with so stay tuned! The recipe below is one you can adapt for gluten free baking. If you have an all purpose flour blend you use (either homemade or store bought), you can substitute it 1:1 for the all purpose flour called for in the recipe.

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
recipe from Kraft

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups  flour

2 cups sugar, divided

1/4 teaspoon  salt

1 1/2 cups light corn syrup

1 package  (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, divided

4 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons  vanilla

2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

HEAT oven to 350ºF.

BEAT butter, flour, 1/2 cup sugar and salt with mixer until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press onto bottom of 15x10x1-inch pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake 20 min. or until lightly browned.

MEANWHILE, microwave corn syrup and 6 chocolate squares in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2-1/2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1-1/2 min.; stir until completely melted. Add remaining sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Stir in nuts. Pour over warm crust; spread to evenly cover crust.

BAKE 35 min. or until filling is firm around edges but still slightly soft in center. Cool completely. Melt remaining chocolate squares as directed on package; drizzle over cooled bars. Let stand until chocolate is firm.