Butterscotch Bars

A classic blondie-style bar with rich, butterscotch flavor. They’re so easy to make (less than 10 ingredients!) and are a great after-school treat or dessert. Nothing beats pairing one of these bars with a big glass of cold milk.

What You’ll Need

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, 240 grams
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted – if you’re going to use salted butter, omit the salt
• 1 ¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 8 ounces butterscotch chips
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped – you can also substitute chopped pecans or almonds here

Equipment You’ll Need

Nothing too crazy here, and that’s the beauty of this recipe! I prefer using a stand mixer. It will give you the best consistency (and take a lot of work off your hands).

It’s also really important to use a 9×13 baking pan to get the right thickness of the bars. Anything smaller, and the cooking time will be off, and the bars will be too thick and undercooked.

Instructions

Prepare the pan

Preheat the oven to 350° and line a 9×13 baking pan with two pieces of parchment paper. Lay them crisscross so that the entire bottom of the pan is covered, and there’s about a 1- to 2-inch overhang. This is really important because you don’t want the butterscotch bars to stick to the pan.

Combine the dry ingredients

Next, mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Use a whisk for this so that everything is combined.

Set this bowl aside while you work on the wet ingredients.

Cream the butter and sugar

Now cream the butter and sugar together. This will take about 2 minutes on medium speed with the stand mixer.

You’ll know that it’s done when the mixture is really creamy and slightly lighter in color. It won’t be a bright, buttery yellow like when you typically cream butter and brown sugar.

Add the vanilla and eggs

Add in the vanilla and 1/3 of the egg mixture. Mix on medium to combine, then take a second break.

You’re going to repeat that two more times, gradually adding the eggs until everything is combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the edges if you need to make sure that everything is incorporated.

Mix in the dry ingredients

Now it’s time to add in the flour mixture.

Bring the speed down low and only mix for about 20 to 30 seconds. The mixture is done when everything is smooth, and no bits of flour remain.

Fold in the mix-ins

Fold in the walnuts and half of the butterscotch chips.

Do this with a spatula or spoon to avoid overmixing. Once everything’s folded in, you’re ready to fill the pan.

bake the bars

Pour the batter into the pan, spread it evenly, then scatter the remaining butterscotch chips evenly on top.

Bake the bars until they’re golden brown and the batter isn’t jiggly. This will take about 20 minutes. If you like your bars a little less gooey and drier, you can add 5 minutes to the baking time.

Cool and cut

Once they’re done, remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. Please don’t skip this step! It’s super important. It’ll take about an hour for the bars to cool and be ready to cut. If you try to cut them too early, the bars will just fall apart.

Once they’re cool, simply pop the parchment out of the pan, put them on a cutting board, and then cut into squares.

Storage Instructions

To store the bars, you can put them in an airtight container for up to 7 days and keep them at room temperature. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. I like to wrap them tightly with plastic wrap to keep them extra fresh.

Questions and Troubleshooting

More dessert bar recipes

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• Homemade Caramelitas
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• Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
• Sourdough Lemon Bars