Butterscotch "Pantry" Brownies

May 9th is National Butterscotch Brownie Day

Who is the world came up with these ideas? There are only 365 days in a year- are butterscotch brownies, of all things, that important that we need an entire 24 hours devoted to them? 

Apparently!

And who am I to argue? 

These little morsels are, well, butterscotch morsels. Found in the baking aisle of your grocery store, they have many uses, most of which I've yet to learn about. As far as I'm concerned, they go well in cookies, brownies, and cakes. Please feel free to comment if you have any ideas of other applications...

Now, I'm sure I'm not the only one to use this phrase, but as I cannot at the moment recall where it came from, I'll take the credit (until credit is due): 

"Pantry Brownies"

AKA throw-everything-you-can-find-in-your-pantry-that-might-work brownies.

So that is what I did.

Feel free to substitute any chocolate, morsels, nuts, etc.

An important aspect of "Pantry Brownies" is the ability to know your audience, thus assuring the satisfaction of all who will eat your amalgamation of sweets. For instance, I considered leaving out the chocolate pieces. For one thing, we had no chocolate chips. For another, these are butterscotch brownies- not chocolate brownies! However, I knew that my father would rather eat bugs than a dessert with no chocolate, so I threw whatever small pieces of chocolate I could find right in. Similarly, an entire cup of nuts for this size recipe is quite indulgent. But I knew that my mother wouldn't eat the brownies without sufficient nut content! Alas, this is the quandary of baking for others!! 

My Pantry Brownies consisted of the following:

1 Cup Flour 

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed

1/3 Cup Milk Chocolate, chopped

1 Cup Butterscotch Morsels

1/3 Cup Dark Chocolate, chopped

1/2 Cup Hazelnuts, chopped

1/2 Cup Salted Almonds, chopped

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 Cup (2 sticks) of butter*


*I wanted to go for a more "fudgey" consistency. If you'd like your brownies to be more "cakey", cut the butter content in half. 

Start with the basics.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt- set aside.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. 

Remove from the heat and beat in the egg and vanilla. 

Throw in the brown sugar and whisk until there are no lumps and the mixture is smooth and shiny. 

               At this point, start tossing in the flour mixture in a few batches, making sure to stir thoroughly in between.

When all of the flour mixture is combined, add your mix-ins. Now would be the time to switch from a whisk to a spatula- which I neglected to do. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of banging to get all the mix-ins out of the whisk!

Pour your batter into an ungreased pan (I used a 9x13) and bake at 350F for 18-22 minutes. 

Cool, cut, serve, and enjoy. 

And thank me for giving you an excuse to use those pecans/candy bar pieces/sprinkles you haven't been able to find a use for :)