Butterscotch Brownies aka Blondies

Growing-up, my parents went to Israel twice.  The first time they went, we were young enough, and there were enough of us (probably 8-9 at that time?), they could hardly just leave leave us to our own devices.  Enter Lorraine.  Lorraine was a single lady, a friend of my parents that they had known years before.  She was one of my Dad's students.  At the time she was still single.  It was perfect.  She worked at THE Cadburry Chocolate Company, that was a perk.  Lorraine was awesome.  She was super nice.  So sweet.  Fun.  Pretty. (I could go on and on).  But the thing I remember best about Lorraine and the time she came to stay with us for a week or two, was the Butterscotch Brownies (aka Blondies), she made for us.  

In my young life, I had never had Butterscotch Brownies, so I was very curious to see what these would be like.  Could anything REALLY be better than Brownies?  I mean, we're talking chocolate here !

They were amazing!  Truly.  And I think I would venture to say... better than brownies.  *Gasp*  Yep, that's right.  In my opinion, they're better.  (Shawn would strongly disagree).

Anyway, I don't know what recipe she used, but here's my favorite.  It's a Bobby Flay recipe.  He calls them Blondies, but I just can't bring myself to calling them that.  Not with the memory.  They'll always be Butterscotch Brownies to me.

Combine butter and brown sugar in saucepan and whisk until combined, and butter is melted.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla.

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in yet another bowl.

Grease your foiled pan.

After the butter/brown sugar mixture has cooled slightly, temper it, by slowly adding it to the egg/vanilla mixture.

Add the flour stuff into the rest of the batter, and whisk to combine.

Then pour the whole thing into the pan.  Mmmm, doesn't that look good?!

Here's where it gets fun.  You can do all kinds of fun stuff.  I added blobs of Nutella to half of it, and swirled them with a knife.  But you could also add chocolate chips, nuts, peanut butter or caramel.  Cookie dough?  Endless possibilities.

There they are just out of the oven.

 Check those out!  They're fabulous.  Just super!  Look at that texture.  Can't you just taste them?

Thanks Lorraine, for the memories.

Original Recipe:


Butterscotch Brownies (slightly adapted)


1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8"x 8" baking dish.  (Line with foil, grease that too.)

Melt the butter in a medium, heavy-=bottomed saucepan over medium heat; add sugar and whisk until combined and sugar is melted.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Net, in a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla until combined.  Slowly drizzle in the butter and sugar while whisking constantly.  Then add the flour and whisk until just incorporated.

*Now, at this point you could fold in your favorite add-ins:  chocolate chips, milk chocolate chunks, nuts, nutella, cookie dough, toffee chips.

Bake for 37 minutes.