Rum- you either love it or you hate it. If you hate it, click here or here, or go have a nap. If you love it, stick with me, drinking buddy. We’re going to have a good time.
(Full disclosure: rum and I are still unsure of our relationship. I have a scarring memory from 1994 involving it in excess, and it’s taken me baby steps [thankfully not 12 of them] to befriend it again. Mojitos have definitely helped.)
Remember my Chewy Pecan Bars? (If you’re too hungover to picture them, I’ll help you out: chewy, pecans, amazing.) I love a dessert with a bit of chew in it (except for an under baked cake– ew), so I keep coming back to this bar. (There are some bars you want to keep coming back to, like Maude’s Liquor Bar on Randolph. And the Ugly But Good Bars [don’t judge a bar by its name]. And now for rum chewy pecan bars.)
Bottoms up!
Adapted from my Chewy Pecan Bar recipe…
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup dark rum
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 cup pecans (toasted chopped)
3/4 cup butter, melted
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease a foil-lined 8 x 8? baking pan.
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.*
- Spread evenly into baking pan, and bake for 35 minutes (until cake tester pulls out mostly clean of crumbs in the center). Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing into bars.
Tips:
- Add raisins if it makes your life feel more complete, for sure. I wish I had thrown in 3/4 of a cup. Next time, next time.
- *Don’t feel like beating the eggs in a separate bowl before stirring them into the mix? Do what I do: lightly beat them in the large bowl first, then add the other ingredients. (Oh- as for the butter, I usually melt into the measuring cup I’ve used to scoop out the flour, sugar and pecans… then pour into the batter to stir.)
- Can you make the time to toast the nuts? Pretty please? Put them on a pan in your oven as it preheats, and when you start to smell them a little bit and they look lightly toasted, they are done. (Not like this.)
- These will freeze totally well.
- Enjoy!
