Caramel Pecan Squares. Photo by Joanne Sasvari

There is perhaps nothing I love as much as I love caramel. Mmmm, caramel. And these squares from The Little Island Bake Shop cookbook by Jana Roerick (Figure 1 Publishing) more than deliver all the caramelly goodness you could crave. They have a delightfully buttery shortbread base, while the nuttiness of the pecans cuts any overt sweetness from the caramel. Plus they are super easy to make.

Jana is the owner and head baker at Jana’s Bake Shop on Salt Spring Island, and I was lucky enough to work with her on her cookbook. It is filled with great, easy-to-follow recipes for the kinds of things you’ll actually want to make—brownies, cookies, butter tarts, carrot cake. She’s justly famous for her pies, and no event on the island is complete without one of her cakes.

I think you should buy the book and make everything in it. (The chiffon cake is a personal fave.) But even if you don’t, you should definitely make these.

Recipe: Caramel Pecan Squares
From The Little Island Bake Shop by Jana Roerick (Figure 1). These are buttery and caramelly, but with lots of pecan nuttiness to balance the sweetness of the caramel. The shortbread base creates a nice, firm foundation with a buttery crumb, making them pretty much irresistible.
Makes a 9- x 13-inch cake pan

Ingredients
Base:
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus extra for greasing the pan
¾ cup sifted icing sugar
½ tsp sea salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:
¾ cup butter
1 ½ cups packed brown sugar
½ tsp salt
½ cup honey
3 Tbsp whipping cream (36%)
2 cups chopped pecans

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-x-13-inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper, allowing paper to come up the sides of the cake pan.

Prepare the base: In a large bowl, blend butter, icing sugar and salt to combine. Stir in flour until just combined. Press into bottom of prepared pan; dust hands with flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking. Chill base for a minimum of 15 minutes before baking.

Place on middle rack in pre-heated oven and bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, until firm.

While the base is baking, make the topping. In a medium-sized saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter, then stir in sugar, salt, honey and cream. Stir with wooden spoon until the mixture comes to a boil.

Stop stirring, let boil for 30 seconds, then remove from the heat and stir in chopped pecans.

Pour mixture evenly over baked base and return to the oven. Continue to bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the squares are gently bubbling throughout.

Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan before cutting. Lift caramel bars out by parchment paper. With sharp knife, cut into squares of desired size.