Chocolate Chip — Pecan Meringue Bars — Something Worth Making Twice

End of July. Peaches again — South Carolina, from the farmer's market, and I made cobbler and also peach preserves, six half-pints, because the peaches were so good that eating them all now would be a failure of planning and I am not failing at planning, I am succeeding at planning, which means six jars of peach preserves in January when the world is gray and the peaches are a memory that you can spread on a biscuit.

Earl Thomas is sixteen months. He has a word for everything now — approximations of words, close-enough words, words that sound like the originals if you tilt your head and squint your ears. Truck is tuck. Dog is dah. Hot is hot, perfect, unchanged from the first time. PawPaw is PawPaw. He came to the house Saturday and I held him in the kitchen and he pointed at things and named them: tove (stove), pot (pot, perfect again), nife (knife, which I moved out of reach). He's cataloging the kitchen. He's learning the names of the things that feed him. That's the beginning. That's where it starts.

Earl Thomas was still naming the stove and the pot when I decided there should be something sweet at the end of the day — not cobbler, we’d done peaches, we’d done the work, six jars of it — but something that rewarded the patience that canning asks of you. These Chocolate Chip & Pecan Meringue Bars are that kind of thing: layered, a little slow, worth the steps. You make the base, you make the filling, you make the top, and somewhere in there you remember that the best things in a kitchen have more than one part.

Chocolate Chip & Pecan Meringue Bars

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 55 min | Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, divided
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (for meringue topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. Make the base dough. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks (reserve whites), vanilla, and milk; mix until combined. Stir in the flour mixture until a soft dough forms.
3. Press and layer. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Scatter chocolate chips evenly over the dough layer.
4. Make the meringue topping. Beat the 3 reserved egg whites with a clean whisk or mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1 cup packed brown sugar, beating until stiff and glossy peaks form. Fold in chopped pecans gently.
5. Spread and bake. Spread the pecan meringue evenly over the chocolate chip layer, reaching all edges. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the meringue top is deep golden brown and set. A toothpick inserted into the base layer should come out clean.
6. Cool and cut. Let bars cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 1 hour, before cutting into bars. The meringue firms as it cools. Cut into 24 bars with a sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts for clean edges.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 29g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 85mg