Kardea Brown's Hummingbird Bars.
Recipe courtesy of Kardea Brown

Hummingbird Bars with Candied Pecans

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  • Level: Intermediate
  • Total: 3 hr 50 min (includes cooling and chilling time)
  • Active: 40 min
  • Yield: 12 to 15 bars
If you're unfamiliar with hummingbird cake, it's a cake spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg; chock-full of mashed banana, pineapple, nuts and coconut; and finished with a cream cheese frosting. I absolutely love hummingbird cake, so I decided to make a bar cookie version using all those flavors. These bars have a spiced shortbread crust and creamy cheesecake filling infused with mashed banana, and are studded with pineapple, coconut and candied pecans on top. I think you're going to love them!

Ingredients

Crust:

Filling:

Directions

  1. For the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, allowing 2 inches to extend over the sides to use as handles.
  2. Pulse the flour, powdered sugar, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a food processor until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly (see Cook’s Note). Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
  3. For the filling: Beat the cream cheese and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until the yellow disappears after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and banana. Pour the filling over the cooled crust and top with the pineapple. Arrange the dried pineapple rings over the top and sprinkle with the coconut. Drizzle with the butter. Bake until the filling is set, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Sprinkle with the candied pecans and refrigerate until chilled.
  4. To serve, remove the bars from the pan using the parchment paper handles. Cut into bars.

Cook’s Note

We use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which is less dense than Morton. If you use Morton, just use a little less. Depending on how humid your kitchen is, you may need to add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to the shortbread dough to come together.