Pecan Chewies

I'm not usually very fond of chopped up nuts in my desserts, unless we're talking about crunchy peanut butter in cookies.  I like nuts just fine in savory dishes, and love peanut butter in desserts, but for some reason pieces of nuts in sweet things just do not appeal to me.  The texture is distracting and even the flavor can be.  Weird, I know! 
 
So it's kind of a mystery why I was so fascinated by the recipe for Pecan Chewies over at Southern Bite.  I came upon the recipe the first time I visited the blog and made them a couple of days later with the excuse of giving them to my neighbors.  Let me tell you, my interest in the recipe was well founded!  Pecan Chewies are so good, outstanding really!  They definitely deserve to have the word "chewy" in their name and were still delicious almost a week later.  I think they'd even be good without the pecans at all, though I did enjoy them.  After I had the pan in the oven, I realized that I was supposed to use pecan halves instead of chopped pecans, oops!  Next time I will do the pecan halves, but they were very good chopped, too.  This may be a big no-no in the south, but I'd love to try the chewies with chopped cashews or maybe even mini chocolate chips.
 
Also, something kind of funny:  I have made countless recipes from Southern Plate and it's probably my favorite cooking blog.  It's definitely the one I've cooked from the most!  After I made these (at the same time I realized I was supposed to use pecan halves instead of chopped), I discovered that the recipe had been guest posted on Southern Plate a couple of years ago.  Figures!

 
Pecan Chewies

2 sticks butter, melted
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown sugar)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C self rising flour (I used 2 C flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt)
1 C pecans (halves or chopped)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.

In a large bowl, stir together melted butter and sugars until smooth.  Stir in eggs and vanilla until well incorporated, then flour until no lumps remain.  Stir in pecans and spread mixture evenly in the baking dish.

Bake until just turning golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes.  Don't overbake!
 
Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Yield:  About 16 servings