Butterscotties Cookie Bars

Friends, Romans, countrymen....

Sorry for the long absence and lack of baked goodies. I've been unwell--recuperating from surgery and now from a cold that was a long time coming--so I haven't been terribly active. I mean, I've been baking: soda bread muffins, peppermint candy cookies, gingerdoodles. But I haven't had the energy to make a big production of it.

Anyhow, I come bearing recipe.

Sometimes I don't feel like shaping my cookies. Rolling them into balls, using a scooper...just don't want to. Enter the cookie bar.

Anything you put in a pan and ignore sounds lovely to me. It seriously cuts down on my involvement in the process, and sometimes we just need that. I decided to make these butterscotties. They're sort of a strange hybrid of blondies and butterscotch cookies, and so they intrigued me.

Without any further ado....

Butterscotties:
2 1/4 C. APF
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 C. butter, softened
1 1/4 C. light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1/2 C. butterscotch chips
1 1/2 C. chopped walnuts
1/2 C. chocolate chips (optional)



Preheat your oven to 350F.

Cream softened butter and brown sugar together in the bowl of a mixer. Meanwhile, sift the APF, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

Action shot! I used the good camera today.

Your butter/sugar mixture won't be as fluffy as it would be if you were using regular granulated sugar. But it will smell better. These puppies have a lovely caramel scent.

Next, add the vanilla and blend. Pour your sifted dry mixture in and mix until it's combined. I find it easiest to add it a little bit at a time to avoid flour kickback. That's just messy.

Take the bowl off of the stand mixer and get ready to use your muscles. Add the butterscotch chips and walnuts to the dough and stir them in until they're pretty well distributed. The dough will be thick, almost paste-like.

Chunky

I switched the ratio of butterscotch chips to walnuts in my dough. That is, I did 1/2 C. walnuts and 11/2 C. butterscotch chips. Why? Well, for two reasons: first, I didn't buy enough walnuts. Oops. Second, I wanted those chips out of the house so I didn't eat them.

It doesn't really matter. Do as you wish.

Grease a 13x9 pan. Drop the dough into the pan and spread it with a metal spatula. It's not as easy as it sounds...or at least it wasn't for me.

If you're using them, sprinkle the chocolate chips along the top of the butterscottie dough. The dough will rise up around them as it bakes. They're more of an accent than anything else. It appeases those who can't eat an un-chocolatey baked good.  I think the dough looks a wee bit like some vast alien planet. Made of cookies. Hey, it could happen.


Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took about 32 minutes to bake.

Pull the pan out of the oven and let it rest on a cooling rack for a few minutes before cutting the giant cookie into little cookie bars.


I don't think I need to tell you what to do with it from there.


Gotta swish, jellyfish.

BB