I am a sucker for a delicious dessert. Chocolate makes me swoon, especially when it's got a savory touch to it. These chocolate pecan pie bars are delicious, decadent, and have all the characteristics of a great pecan pie in one, easy-to-eat bar.

Ingredients

Crust

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used Cup-4-Cup, a fantastic gluten-free alternative)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

3 large eggs
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon good-quality bourbon (optional, but highly encouraged).
1 package semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (fleur-de-sel or similar)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, letting the foil trail over the ends of your pan (this makes it easy to remove for cutting later).
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the room-temperature butter, brown sugar, flour, and salt until coarse crumbs form. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan, then press firmly into the bottom in an even layer to form the crust. You can use your fingers for this, or the smooth bottom of a measuring cup works well, too.
Bake the crust until lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool, 5-10 minutes.
While the crust bakes, in the same large mixing bowl (don't worry about washing/rinsing), mix the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, melted butter and bourbon until well combined. Feel free to enjoy a swig of bourbon straight from the bottle as you measure--I won't judge. (Anyone else watching might, though). Stir in chocolate chips and pecans by hand.
Pour into your pre-baked crust. Return to the oven and bake until set, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan, then grab those foil tails and lift the entire kit-and-caboodle out of the pan. Sprinkle the top with the flaky sea salt to taste. Then cut into bars: you could do 32 bars (8 rows x 4) if you're trying to feed a crowd, but I personally like the 24-bar cut myself (3 rows x 8), 'cause I'm a chocoholic like that. Store uneaten bars in an airtight container for 3-4 days on the counter (will keep about a week in the fridge). Feel free to pop the leftovers in the microwave for 10 seconds to get them all gooey and warm again.