Rasberry-Pecan Crumble Bars

I'm back! I've been a negligent blogger these past few weeks... I thought I'd come back with one of my favorite dessert recipes. It's buttery and crumbly with tart raspberry preserves running through the middle. My husband asks for these all the time! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Yields: Approximately 24 bars

Ingredients:

10 oz. rasberry preserves

4 cups all-purpose flour

4 sticks of softened, salted butter

3 egg yolks + 1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup pecan chips

Assembly:

Grease a 9x12 baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the egg yolks (one at a time) and vanilla. Mix in the baking powder and flour on medium-low speed. Press half the dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread the raspberry preserves across the top (you may need to microwave the preserves if you had them in the refrigerator). Crumble the remaining dough over the top of the preserves and sprinkle with pecan chips. Bake approximately 30-40 minutes and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Caramel Apple Crepes

Yes, you heard it right! Caramel. Apple. Crepes. Three of my favorite words ;) I had the most delicious french toast stuffed with banana and strawberry cream then topped with an amazing pecan caramel sauce. The chef isn't much of a measurement guy and doesn't typically give out recipes, so I was on my own. Because I was so inspired by the sauce, I decided to give it a go myself. I paired it with my apple crepes, and it was sooooooo tasty! We even cheated and ate it as a meal! The apple filling tastes like warm apple pie, and the yummy caramel pecan sauce is so decadent and warm on top. Good stuff!

Serves 2 greedy adults with two crepes leftover ;)

Note: For my crepe recipe, please search the sidebar. Let me know if you have trouble, and I can repost.

Filling Ingredients:

2 jonagold apples, peeled and sliced

2 tbsp. brown sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

a good pinch of kosher salt

2 tbsp. butter

Filling Assembly:

Melt butter, then saute apples on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes until they begin to brown. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, then stir. Add cream then brown sugar. Coat apples in the cream mixture. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 6-8 minutes until sauce reduces and apples are soft.

Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup chopped pecans

4 tbsp. butter

Sauce Assembly:
Melt butter, then add cream and whisk in the brown sugar over medium-high heat. Whisk in vanilla and salt, then remove about 1/4 cup to cool. After a minute or two, quickly whisk the egg yolk into the set aside mixture, then slowly pour it into the pan, whisking to combine (You need to follow this step so you don't scramble your yolk!). Bring to a rolling boil and cook about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Turn off the heat and stir in the pecans. Serve warm. Reheat in the microwave, stirring before serving.

Crepe Assembly:

Spread approximately 3-5 apple slices on a crepe then roll. Drizzle with pecan caramel sauce and serve immediately.