Here’s the thing I’ve found out about pecan pie – it’s a real son of b*tch. It’s probably just me and my lack of baking abilities, but I tried for a year to get the perfect pecan pie bars. But life wanted to kick my ego to the ground and pee on it. I made chocolate pecan pie bars at least 6 times over a year time span. I tried last year and gave up. Then I tried this year once again to no avail. But luckily I have some smart friends. And when I failed hard the last time and complained about it on social media, my genius friend Jennifer of Predominantly Paleo told me to just call it a cobbler. Duh. I’m an idiot. Here I have this delicious dessert that looks ugly AF but tastes amazing – aka a cobbler. So that’s exactly what you have here. A dessert that doesn’t make much sense until you put it in your mouth and fall in love. Just try it and then you’ll understand why it had to become a dessert on your Thanksgiving table.
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I’M FREAKING THE F*CK OUT. It really has nothing to do with Thanksgiving other than the fact I’m going out of town for Thanksgiving. Out of the country. To the other side of the freaking world. To a place I’ve never been, that has different outlets, and some spotty cell service. I’m heading to New Zealand at the end of this week and I’m starting to get nervous about it. Mostly because of the time change and needing to get my work done on time. Even though this business is my own and I can do whatever I want, I still keep a pretty regular schedule. I wake up, finish my blog post, and have it live by 7am at the latest. Problem is when it’s 7am in Colorado on a Tuesday, it’s 3am in New Zealand on a Wednesday with maybe no wifi and spotty service. I’m not sure how I’m going to figure all this out which is my main source of anxiety, but it will all come together. Right?!
I need to channel my anxiety into other tasks, like working and working out. Or cuddling with my dog. I can’t believe I’m not going to see him for 10 days. Don’t tell my husband but I’ve been letting Jackson sleep in bed with me while he’s been out of town. Which makes me really glad that’s never been a regular occurrence. Dogs smell bad and turn so their bum holes towards your face when you least expect it. It’s an unsafe situation. But now I understand why lots of moms sleep with their babies at first. I just want to cuddle and squeeze the crap out of him, especially since I’m leaving soon. Dogs are the best.
Now wait, I know we got away from the topic of New Zealand, but I gotta wrap back around. Yes, I know I’m annoying. But I’ve never gone this far across the world. I’ve only gone to the Caribbean and Central America, but never on a 12 hour flight. So I want to plan accordingly for this hellishly long flight. What do you think are some must-haves? I’m sure some of you out there have flown internationally quite often and what do you always bring? I obviously want to download a couple movies, bring my noise cancelling headphones that are the big headphones not the earbuds, I’ll definitely pack some snacks…but what else should I take with me to live through this flight? I’m excited to see your answers!
Now enough about me…let’s eat whatever this dessert concoction is!
Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookie Bars
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 package of Simple Mills Crunchy Pecan Cookies
- 3 tablespoons ghee
For the pecan filling:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup maple or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut nectar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 cup halved pecans
For the chocolate layer:
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a pie plate with coconut oil spray.
- Add cookies to a food processor and pulse to break down. Then add ghee and pulse to combined until a crumbly mixture is created. Place crumbled mixture in the pie plate and press down until evenly throughout the entire dish.
- Whisk together eggs, sugar, coconut nectar maple syrup, tapioca and coconut flour, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt.
- Place pecans throughout the baking dish then pour the sugar and egg mixture on top of the pecans.
- Cover pie plate with foil and place in oven to bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 30 more minutes. Then as soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle the chocolate chips on top, which will slightly melt once it hits the hot sugar.
- You can truly serve this however you prefer. You can let it cool completely before serving or serve warm. Either way, it’s delicious with ice cream on top!
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More Thanksgiving Dessert Ideas!
Cardamom Caramel Pear Upside Down Cake
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Did you hear Bravo is doing a show about Dirty John?!?!? Starts Nov 25th.
i did!! can’t wait!
All the things listed above, but the only true way to survive flights that long is to fly FIRST CLASS! Spendy, but oh so worth every, single, penny.
lol i would love to do that but i couldn’t come to terms with paying $10,000 extra for two tickets. just couldn’t do it! having that in the bank is way more fun
I’m a Canadian who lives in Australia- I’ve traveled long haul every year for the past 15yrs. Plan on sleeping on the plane, bring an eye mask, wear comfortable clothes, ear plugs maybe even take a sleeping pill if it suits the timing of your flight. Optimising your sleep will make you feel the best when you arrive and also make the flight seem much shorter.
I never take food on the flight because they have a ton of food on board you can even book yourself a GF meal in advance. Also, beware that international quarantine laws mean you can’t bring fresh food (fruit, salad) into a foreign country.
good to know!! thanks so much Sue!
Way too many 20+ hour trips in my life necessitates some non negotiables in my carry on:
1. compression socks/comfy shoes or packable slippers (fitkicks are awesome)
2. blanket
3. pillow case (to cover the pillow they give you)
4. sleeping aids
5. toiletry bag-toothbrush, tooth paste, face cleanser, lotion, wipes, eye drops if you get dry eye easily
6. books
7. computer-do offline work, watch movies (generally a lot offered on flight though)
8. noise cancelling headphones
9. protein snacks
10. collagen travel packs for coffee
You are going to have such an amazing time!
good call on the toiletry bag!! i will definitely be adding that to my list!
Hi Juli,
This recipe looks delicious!
As a Kiwi who’s husband is from France it means we often fly long distance (our home countries could literally not be further away).
My tips:
Take a huge reusable water bottle with you and ask the flight attendants to fill it up every chance you get. Flying long haul is super dehydrating, so super important to stay hydrated (maybe even bring along some rehydration salts to mix into your water).
My feet and ankles swell up like a MF, but compression sock certainly help a bit.
Noise cancelling headphones will be awesome for sure. Most long haul airlines should offer inflight movies, tv, video games etc. Just check beforehand so you don’t get caught out.
Good moisturiser for sure!
Annnnnnnd, biggest tip so you don’t feel super jet lagged when you arrive: as soon as you get on the plane set your watch to the time of the destination you are traveling too. Then try to work to that time. So if it is daytime in NZ, try to stay awake. If it’s time to sleep, try to sleep. You’ll be set to go when you arrive. And then when you do arrive try to get some sunlight on you skin, this will help you reset your circadian rhythm to the local time.
Hope these tips help!
Have a wicked trip!
All of this! Also Melatonin can be handy to trick your body, take it when you should be sleeping NZ time.
good call!!
thank you so much for all the recommendations Nellie!! you da best!!
Hahahaha no need to worry, we aren’t a bunch of savages in NZ, we do have wifi and cell service in almost all areas of the country! And the ones that don’t are probably in the middle of the bush!
I am a Kiwi living in London, so have done many a long flight back and forth. Absolute essentials are:
1. Warm fuzzy socks – because planes are freezing (bonus if you can get compression ones to stop your ankles swelling).
2. Sleeping pills – some people find they make them groggy, but I can’t sleep on planes and sleeping pills save me from not sleeping for 48 hours. I normally take half a one to get about 4 hours sleep on each 12 hour flight, better than nothing!
3. Ear plugs – sometimes noise cancelling headphones aren’t even enough to block out screaming children.
4. Change of clothes – in your hand luggage in case they lose your suitcase.
5. You can buy this in NZ, but sunscreen (and a big hat and sunglasses). There is a hole in the ozone layer above the whole country so you’ll get burnt a lot easier than you would expect.
6. Your own neck pillow – (the u shaped ones), I find the weird mini pillows that they give you really annoying and they move around when you are trying to sleep.
7. On your long flight (I assume you have two to get there?) make sure you get up and walk down the aisles whenever you can. Otherwise you will get super stiff sitting/lying down the whole time.
8. Eye mask – even when they turn the lights off it is still pretty light in the cabin!
Let me know if you needed any more recommendations for what to do/eat/see in NZ 🙂 excited to see your photos!!!!
adding ear plugs to my list! thanks for the recommendations!! this was such a good list! and i think i’m good with what to do and see just because we are there with a native so we are just following along with whatever he says haha!! so excited to get there!
My must haves for long haul flights:
Headphones
Eye mask
Hydrating Spray
Muscle relaxant (these help me sleep and not feel totally cramped up after sitting for 10+ hours in a tiny airplane seat)
Neck pillow
Snacks and possibly a meal or two if you can. Airplane food sucks.
Depending on the timing of your flight will determine how much you should plan to sleep. I try to stay on the schedule of where I will be landing to avoid jet lag. 🙂
Have an absolute blast! My best friend lived in New Zealand for a year (I was about to book a flight to go visit her and then she found out she was coming back so had to change my plans). It looks absolutely gorgeous there!
just added the eye mask to my list!! and our flight is overnight so i’m hoping it feels pretty natural to sleep most of it. natural meaning i hope my xanax holds up
water and an ambien.
🙂
lol love it.
Did you mean a 1/2 cup of maple syrup? Currently the blog just reads “1/2 maple syrup”
Thank you!
yes 1/2 cup. thanks for pointing that out! all fixed!
Thanks, Juli!! 🙂
Are you flying Air New Zealand? If so, movies, tv, music etc will be free 🙂 They are a great airline ( so is Qantas). I usually have a wine, and a melatonin or tylenol PM soon after take off. Start watching a movie and then doze off. Wake 5 hours later confused and thirsty. Smash a ton of water, watch another movie, repeat. Compression socks are great. So is wine. Also just accepting the fact that its going to take a long time, and probably be a bit uncomfortable ( unless you are flying business class). Its worth the long flight trust me!
oh man, I wish business class was happening, but it was SOOOOO much more expensive. like $4000 more per ticket. i just couldn’t do it haha but we did buy the sky couch so i hope that helps!