Pretzel Bars a la Martha

So I got my hands on a copy of Martha Stewart Living, saw these, and had to have them.  They were delicious!  A few additions are noted below in red.

Pretzel Shortbread Bars

photo courtesy of me (http://www.flickr.com/photos/boblawblogger/)

Broken pretzels are worked into the dough: Finely ground crumbs go into the flour mixture, and bigger pieces stud the inside and top layer of the bars.

Martha Stewart Living, October 2011

• Prep Time 20 minutes
• Total Time 2 hours
• Yield Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 3 1/4 cups salted miniature twist pretzels
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat a 14-by-13 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom with cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment. This size pan is ridiculously too large . . . an 8x8 pan is sufficient to make these bars to a depth of about 3/4 to 1" deep.  Either use the cooking spray or line with foil.
   
2. Pulse 1 3/4 cups pretzels in a food processor until powdery. Transfer 1/2 cup to a bowl; discard any remaining pretzel powder. Stir in flour and baking powder. Transfer remaining 1 1/2 cups pretzels to food processor, and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped.
   
3. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and beat in egg yolk, vanilla,  then pretzel-flour mixture, until combined. Mix in 1/2 cup chopped pretzels.
   
4. Press dough evenly into pan. Top dough with 1/4 cup chopped pretzels, pressing slightly; discard any remaining pretzels.
   
5. Bake shortbread until pale brown and firm in the center, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack, and let shortbread cool for 1 hour. Remove shortbread from pan, and cut into 1/2-inch-wide rectangles using a serrated knife.

Check the recipe out at Martha Stewart Living: http://www.marthastewart.com/852361/pretzel-shortbread-bars