Warning: these are dangerously good. I’m house/offspring sitting family friends and Georgia (from Georgia’s Blueberry Cake) and I went through 5 cookbooks before we chose this recipe. They take a while to make, and need tons of time to cool (like 3+ hours), but they are completely worth it…just don’t do what I did and listen to Georgia’s impatient 15 year old brother and cut them too soon!

Butterscotch Bars

Base

• ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350^oF, and grease and line the bottom of a 8×8 inch square pan with parchment paper.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture and stir until evenly blended. Spread batter into a prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, to an even golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Butterscotch

• ½ cup unsalted butter
  
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup golden corn syrup
• ¼ cup water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup walnut pieces
• ¾ cup unsweetened coconut
• ½ cup whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ¾ cup chocolate chips

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium sized saucepan.

While butter is melting, combine sugars, corn syrup, water, and salt, and increase heat to medium-high. Once melted, add to saucepan; when mixture reaches a boil, stir in walnut pieces and coconut. Simmer for 7 minutes, stirring often (mixture will become thick and darker in colour).

Remove from heat and stir in cream and vanilla (watch for steam). Pour butterscotch over base and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake for 13-16 minutes, until bubbling around the edges. Allow to cool before cutting into squares or bars.

Notes:

1) These need at least 3 hours to cool. A good recipe to make well in advance of serving them.

2) Do not refrigerate – the sugars don’t like the fridge.

3) I chose to melt the chocolate chips and spread them over the top after baking, instead of sprinkling them in beforehand.

4) Bars will keep up to 3 weeks in an airtight container.

Source: Sugar, by Anna Olson