Crunch into the Icy Glaze of Pat Souza's Celestial Bars

The pecan and almond goodness of Pat Souza's celestial bars brought a fun treat recently for her card-playing group at the .

For the bars, you will need:

• 1/2-cup butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups of packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract
• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 2 squares of unsweetened chocolate, melted

For the icing, you will need:

• 1/2-cup of butter, softened
• 3 cups of confection sugar
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

For the glaze, you will need:

• 1/2-cup of semisweet chocolate chips, 2 teaspoons of shortening

To start, cream the butter, brown sugar and extracts in a large bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Combine the flour and salt and add it to the cream mixture in the large bowl. Mix well and stir in the pecans.

Next, divide the batter in half and stir chocolate into one portion. Pour the plain and melted chocolate batter in a 13-inch by 9-inch greased pan. Pat says to swirl is with a knife (the batter will be thick). She said the technique is called marbling.

Bake the mixture at 350 degrees for 16 to 20 minutes. Let is cool completely.

For the icing, Pat says to cream the sugar, butter, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Mix it well and spread it over the cool bars.

For the glaze, Pat says to melt the chocolate chips and shortening in the microwave or double boiler. Drizzle the glaze over the bars, and let it cool before you cut the bars. Pat also added leftover crushed pecans to the top of the celestial bars.

Enjoy!