It’s that time again – Holiday Blog Hop! This round the theme is something with cranberry, pecan or vanilla. When it comes to baking, vanilla is an easy ingredient to incorporate, so obviously used that in this recipe which is also complete with pecans.

Even though my bag of dried cranberries was not affected by the voluntary recall made by Ocean Spray, I just wasn’t in the mood to use them. Besides, I’ve had my eye on these babies for awhile now. Seriously “gooey” is in the name, so they had to be good!

The dense, blondie-like base carries the mound of perfectly described gooey goodness, which is full of chocolate chips and chopped pecans. And since this is a pecan theme, it’s topped off with pecan halves just to make it look fancy – or at least as fancy as a square of gooeyness can be!

For step-by-step photos, check out the originator of this recipe, Kelly at Evil Shenanigans.

One year ago: Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

PECAN CHOCOLATE CHIP GOOEY BUTTER CAKE

Makes 16 bars

Ingredients:

BASE

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

4 Tbsp butter, softened

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

TOPPING

2 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, plus 16 halves

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8 x 8-inch pan with non-stick spray. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving two inches hanging over the sides, and spray the paper with non-stick spray.
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar until well blended. Add in the butter, egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until smooth.
3. Turn the batter out into the pan and press it evenly into the pan. It will be quite thick.
4. In the same bowl beat together the cream cheese, corn syrup, vanilla, butter, brown sugar, salt, egg, and flour until smooth and lighter in color. Fold in the pecans and chocolate chips.
5. Carefully spread the topping over the base and place the 16 pecan halves on top. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is puffed and the edges are set, but the center is just a little wobbly. Cool completely in the pan. Use the parchment to remove the bars from the pan and slice.

Source: Evil Shenanigans