Pecan pie was my mom’s favorite, but she didn’t bake pies, so I always used to bake her one for Thanksgiving. One year, I made a chocolate version. It was delicious, but let’s just say it wasn’t user friendly. It was gooey and hard to serve. Over the years, it eventually morphed into these Maple Pecan Brownies. The brownie version is still delicious, rich and gooey with toasty pecans, but much more user friendly.
Enjoying Maple Pecan Brownies with a glass of milk or a cup of coffee is a must. Thinking of it brings back memories. I can practically smell my dad brewing the coffee to go with these brownies.
Maple Pecan Brownies
Rich, gooey brownies topped with pecan pie filling
Ingredients
Brownies
- ¾ cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (5 1/4 ounces) brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (2 1/4 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted preferably Dutch process cocoa
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups (5 5/8 ounces) flour
Pecan Topping
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup (3 1/2 ounces) brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (7 ounces) pecan halves or pieces
Instructions
Brownies
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, overlapping the sides an inch or two. Spray parchment paper with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together melted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined.
- Mix in eggs and vanilla, one at a time, until well combined.
- Mix in cocoa powder, baking soda and salt until well combined.
- Stir in flour just until combined.
- Spread batter into prepared baking pan. Bake just until top is set, about 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare pecan topping.
- When brownie top is set, remove from oven. Gently pour pecan topping around the outer perimeter of brownies, to avoid making brownies sink in the middle. Evenly distribute the pecan topping over the top gently with a spoon.
- Return the brownies to the oven and continue baking until the topping is set, about 20-25 minutes. Brownies will stop jiggling and topping will look deep golden brown. Toothpick inserted inside will have a few moist crumbs on it. (If your topping starts to brown too much on the edges before the inside is done, apply aluminum foil around the edges as you would with a pie.)
- Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting, about 2- 2 1/2 hours.
- Cut into squares, wiping knife between cuts.
Pecan Topping
- In a medium bowl, stir together maple syrup, butter, brown sugar, egg, maple extract and salt until well combined.
- Stir in pecans until well coated with maple syrup mixture.
- Set aside until brownies are partially baked.
