From the January 28 page of our cookie calendar

TURTLE BARS

Ingredients:

For the crust:
¾ cup (1½ sticks) sweet butter
⅓ cup superfine sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 cups (7 oz.) pecan halves

For the topping:
½ cup (1 stick) sweet butter
¾ cup light brown sugar
5 oz. semisweet chocolate chips (I erred on the side of no such thing as too much chocolate.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9 x 13 in. pan with foil. Cut the butter into chunks and melt in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla. Stir in the sifted flour and salt. Press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then scatter the pecans over the crust and bake for 10 minutes more until the crust is golden brown. Remove from oven.

For the topping, melt the butter and stir in the brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Pour the hot butter mixture over the pecans/crust. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips. Cool in the pan. Lift the foil and transfer to a chopping board. Cut into bars. Makes 2 dozen.

Unbelievably good! In fact, JoAnna enjoyed one with her morning coffee today.

A keeper!