Honey Nut Bars. A super easy and versatile recipe that can use whatever nuts you like to combine with chewy honey caramel on a shortbread base. Delicious!
Honey Nut Cookie Bars
Confession time, right from the start. This is not actually a new recipe but I am posting this version for afew reasons.
First of all, my Aunt Muriel just loves this recipe and makes it often. The original recipe is of course is, Honey Cashew Cookie Bars. That was a recipe I modified a couple of years ago and of course it became immediately popular during the Holiday baking season.
Honey Cashew Cookie Bars
My Mom, Aunt Moo and I all share a big fondness for cashews. An open pack is an empty pack in any of our houses, I’ll wager. No surprise… we all loved this recipe.
A little while back, Aunt Moo told me she had made them with pecans and that they were equally as good. I had been meaning to try them with a mixture of nuts too and decided to give it a shot.
Pecans alone are also a great choice for this recipe.
The second reason was that, yet again, I have a Costco dilemma when it comes to nuts for baking. I always buy the big bags of almonds, walnuts, pecans etc because they are so economical compared to those little bags in the supermarket.
The challenge then though, is to use them up within a few weeks while they are still fresh. Sometimes I’m left with straggling bits that are not enough to make an entire recipe of anything.
One solution is to use them in one of my favourite party or snack nibbles Sweet Smoky Spicy Nuts, but mixing any nuts for this cookie bar recipe is also a very good idea to use them up.
Hazelnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, walnuts and pecans. Use any combination in this recipe.
Searching for Honey Nut Cookie Bars.
The final reason is that several people have messaged me since I posted the original recipe to say that they could not find the recipe for “Honey Nut Bars” on this website. I guess “Honey Nut”goes naturally together and they were remembering the name that way.
Whatever the reason, now when you search for either name, you will get the result for both. With over 200 cookie recipes on site, it naturally can get confusing when it comes to recipe titles.
Honey Nut Cookie Bars
These cookies turned out really well, and after a few samples, made it to my freezer where they will hopefully survive me sneaking them out of the container before the Holidays.
If you like this recipe you may also want to try these incredibly popular Pecan Pie Bars!
The Best Pecan Pie Bars
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Originally published November 2017.
Yield: 36 cookie bars
Honey Nut Cookie Bars
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Honey Nut Cookie Bars - a super easy and versatile recipe that can use whatever nuts you like to combine with chewy honey caramel on a shortbread base. Delicious!
Ingredients
For the bottom layer
- 1 cup butter
- 2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 2/3 cups flour
For the top layer
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tbsp whipping cream
- 1 cup roughly choppedalmonds
- 1 cup roughly choppedpecans
- 1/2 cup melted chocolate chips optional
Instructions
For the bottom layer
- Cream together the butter and brown sugar.
- Mix in the flour until fully incorporated.
- Press into the bottom of a 9×13 inch, parchment paper lined baking pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
For the top layer
- In a medium sized saucepan combine the butter brown sugar honey and whipping cream.
- Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for only a minute or two before stirring in the almonds and pecans.
- As soon as the bottom has baked for 20 minutes, pull it out of the oven and spread the topping evenly over the base and return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes. Careful not to over bake these or the caramel top will go brittle and not chewy. If you have a candy thermometer you can test the top layer to ensure that it is somewhere between 245 to 250 degrees F when fully baked.
- Cool completely the pan on a wire rack.
- Drizzle the tops with the melted chocolate if you choose. These are exceptionally good without the chocolate too.
Notes
Note: this particular version used almonds and pecans but you can use 2 cups of nuts in practically any combination you like for this recipe. Sometimes I cut cookie bars like these in larger squares, then cut them in half diagonally to make little triangle cookies as pictured.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
36Serving Size
36 cookie bars
Amount Per ServingCalories 198Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 6gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 21mgSodium 81mgCarbohydrates 21gFiber 1gSugar 12gProtein 2g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
