Thursday, July 15, 2010

Minnie Lane's One Pot One Pan Butterscotch Brownies


Today is my two year blog anniversary, and to celebrate I'm giving all of you a little gift: an old family recipe for blondies, or as we always called them, butterscotch brownies.

My husband's grandmother, Minnie, lived to age 90 and was quite the character. Opinionated, feisty, and outspoken. She was also thrifty and handy, she sewed clothes for herself and her daughters, and was an excellent cook. I have a few of her recipes, and the one that I make over and over is her Butterscotch Brownies, which combine ease of preparation with chewy texture and meltingly sweet taste.

These blondies don't have any baking chips stirred in; instead they get their butterscotch-y goodness from butter and dark brown sugar. The other virtue of the recipe? It can be made with a minimum of fuss and dirty dishes. Using a good digital kitchen scale, you can whip up a batch of blondies with a cooking pot, a spoon, a measuring spoon, and a baking pan!

the recipe:

Butterscotch Brownies

1 stick butter (115 g, 4 oz)
2 cups firmly-packed dark brown sugar (350 g, 12.25 oz)
2 eggs (100 g without shell, about 112g including the shell)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (212 g, 7.5 oz)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Butter and flour a 9" x 13" baking pan.

3. In large saucepan, melt 1 stick butter. Stir in remaining ingredients in order listed above.

4. Spread batter in the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes. Brownies are done when a knife inserted in center of pan comes out clean.

5. Cool on a wire rack in the pan. When cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into 1" squares.

16 comments:

Kayte said...

Yahoo...a brownie without the brown! No chocolate at all. I'm liking Minnie already. Thanks for the recipe, and Happy Anniversary for the Blog and for the upcoming Happy Anniversary for your marriage as well. It's going to be a great week of celebrating for you.

Nancy said...

Hurray for your Anniversary!! I really enjoy reading your blog and know you're going to have something wonderfully delicious to drool over every time I visit! Keep the posts coming!

Jessica said...

Happy Anniversary! My dad's grandmother was a Minnie, too and he loves to talk about her baked goods. I'm going home in a couple of weeks and I can't wait to make these brownies for him. I know he'll LOVE them. Thanks for sharing a family recipe, Nancy!

Audrey said...

Family recipes are the best! Congratulations on your anniversary and hope there will be many more!

Eliana said...

Happy anniversary. Looking forward to another year of wonderful blog posts from you :)

Di said...

Happy blogiversary! =) Those look delicious. I have a recipe for butterscotch brownies somewhere. I think it's similar, but has nuts included. I'll have to try these soon!

Nickki said...

I love blondies and these look so delicious! I love how easy they are to whip up too, I've bookmarked the recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Barbara said...

Happy Blogoversary!! You have a wonderful blog...such a joy to read.

I'm loving these butterscotch brownies. I've never made them and your recipe looks like the one to try!

Renee said...

Yum!!!!!

Renee said...

And, Happy Anniversary!!!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Happy blogiversary!!!

Thank you for sharing your blond, er butterscotch brownie recipe. As someone who is not especially fond of chocolate these are right up my alley. Plus, they're made with minimal fuss? Yes, please!
~ingrid

Leslie said...

Happy belated blogiversary! Minnie sounds like quite a talented lady. I don't like butterscotch-flavored baked goods, but love it when you make butterscotch from scratch Minnie's way.

farah said...

Happy anniversary! I love reading your blog and was so excited to see this recipe. I made these yesterday, and boy are these yummy!

Sweet as Coco said...

Oh man! These look great!

cocoa and coconut said...

Ooh I'm glad I found your blog! You have such wonderful recipes :)

Jeannette said...

trying these. period.