Cheryl Katz

Butterscotch Brownies

I’m posting this largely for the benefit of @noirbettie, but figured it might be of interest to others as well!  When I want brownies and find myself without any of the usual suspects for making brownies (unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder, etc), the Butterscotch Brownies recipe in Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is a go-to indulgence. I almost always have all of the required ingredients.

This happened the other night, thanks to what I consider just about the only shortcoming of HtCE : there is no recipe for oatmeal cookies.  Period.  Barring that, and finding myself woefully out of cocoa powder for brownies or oatmeal for the cookies anyway, I happened across this page and wound up making the Blondies (their subtitle) instead.  I tossed in the handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips I had on hand to get my chocolate fix.

Butterscotch Brownies
makes 1-2 dozen

Time: 30 to 40 minutes

Maybe you’re allergic to chocolate, or don’t like it, or are out of it.  Maybe you just feel like a change.  These will fix you right up.  Add one cup of chocolate chips to the batter if you want to hedge a little; nuts, or any of the other ideas above [not included here], are also good.

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus a little for greasing the pan
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup (4 1/2 oz.) all-purpose flour

1.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Grease an 8-inch square baking pan [N.B. I used a heart-shaped one, but who's counting?], or line it with aluminum foil and grease the foil.

2.  Melt the butter over low heat.  Transfer to a bowl and use an electric mixer to beat in the sugar until very smooth, then beat in the egg and vanilla, stirring down the sides of the bowl every now and then.

3.  Add the salt, then gently stir in the flour.  Pour into the prepared pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until just barely set in the middle.  It’s better to underbake brownies than to overbake them.  Cool on a rack before cutting.  Store, covered and at room temperature, for no longer than a day.

Imagine wanting brownies if you don’t like chocolate!  Sigh.  What a depressing thought.  In any case, I sort of bungled the ending of mine on Thursday when I didn’t wait quite long enough for the pan to cool, and the soft, gooey middle dripped out.  It had come to a perfectly brownie-like consistency not ten minutes later.  (P.S.  It was delicious despite the mess anyway.)  So patience is the order of the day… don’t make these if you wanted chocolate yesterday.

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