Monday 30 August 2010

Butterscotch Blondies - Take 3

I'll skip right over the disastrous attempt at making a courgette and pineapple cake - it was too bad to even photograph! Although the flavour was the sort of thing I'd been trying for - delicate and fruity - the texture was awful. Almost inedible - except I don't believe in wasting anything, so we're eating it as a warm pudding, like it or not! Needs more work!

But that disaster left me with a hole to fill, so today, I've been baking again. I think I've cracked the base recipe for blondies at last. Previous efforts have been too light, too thin, too biscuity, too cakey or too sweet, but this was just right. A little on the cakey side but still quite dense and chewy. After one of my previous attempts, I said I'd found a selection of nice looking recipes on Ice Cream Before Dinner which needed further investigation - the recipe I used was based on this recipe, for Sea Salted Blondies,  from there.

I intended to use the basic dough from that recipe without change, but found I only had small/medium eggs. so I used two eggs and increased the flour to the equivalent of 1 1/3 cup. I added 100g chopped 74% plain chocolate, 75g butterscotch chips and 50g chopped pecans.

I've almost finished the butterscotch chips I brought back from Canada, so probably won't make butterscotch blondies again in the near future, but this is the base recipe I'll be using for other types of blondies from now on.

Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Blondies
Ingredients
180g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g light muscovado sugar
115g salted butter
2 medium eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain chocolate  - chopped or as chips
75g butterscotch chips
50g chopped pecans

Method

Line a 8" (20cm) square tin with baking paper, pre-heat oven to 170C.
Sift flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a small bowl.
Melt the butter in a large bowl in the microwave, being careful to just melt it. If it gets too hot, allow to cool a little.
Mix the sugar and vanilla extract into the melted butter, then mix in the eggs until thoroughly blended.
Stir in the flour, then the chopped chocolate, butterscotch chips and the nuts.
Transfer the batter to the baking tin and  spread evenly.
Bake for about 30 minutes, until an inserted probe comes out just clean.
Cool completely before cutting into squares or bars in a size of your choice - I got 16 squares.

19 comments:

Jude said...

They look fab!

What made you think pineapple and courgette together would work? It sounds a bit whacky to me . . .

Suelle said...

LOL! Jude - carrot cakes often have pineapple in, and grated courgette is similar to grated carrot ..... seemed a nice idea at the time.
(I didn't mention the chopped pineapple sage leaves, either, did I?)

Nadia Gubba said...

I bought butterscotch chips a while ago and they have been in my ingredients cupboard ever since- I will have to try this recipe! Nx

Anonymous said...

Well done on finally nailing the recipe! They look lovely, Suelle..

Suelle said...

Celia, your butterscotch bars would have been the winner, if I could afford to use that amount of chocolate every time (and that's 'afford' in terms of calories, as well as money! LOL!)

Anonymous said...

Haha..thanks Suelle, and I know what you mean - I can only make them because I'm feeding hungry wolves and their friends at the moment. I wonder if there's some way to make butterscotch chips at home?

Suelle said...

Celia - I think butterscotch chips at home is just a matter of finding a brand of soft toffee which doesn't melt as it cooks.

(After reading the ingredient list on the pack, I'm kinda glad they're almost finished!)

Alicia Foodycat said...

If at first you don't succeed etc etc. These look wonderful!

Suelle said...

Foodycat - thank you!

Caroline said...

They look really good Suelle - tenacity has obviously paid off! I can see where you're coming from with the pineapple/courgette combo - passion cakes generally have pineapple and carrot don't they? Pity it didn't work, I hate it when that happens!

Maggie said...

Great idea using butterscotch chips - the blondies look perfect.

Chele said...

I love blondies! The butterscotch is a great addition.

cocoa and coconut said...

Hi there, just found your blog. Lovely reicpes here! Butterscotch chips? That sounds too good :)

Suelle said...

Thanks for your comments, Brittany, and welcome. I've had a quick look at your blog - it looks the kind of thing I enjoy reading. I'll explore more when I have time.

Choclette said...

Glad you got third time lucky with these - they do look most tempting and I'm sure would be great even without the butterscotch chips. Shame about your courgette cake - pineapple sage sounds interesting but can't imagine it having much flavour in a cake???

Suelle said...

Choclette, I've found a recipe for courgette and pineapple bread (yeastless) since trying to make the cake, so it is possible! The pineapple sage adds flecks of colour, more than flavour, although the raw herb has a pineapple smell and sage flavour.

Alicia Foodycat said...

http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/zucchini-pineapple-muffins-made-by-mom.html

Suelle said...

Thanks, Foodycat - they look just the thing I'm looking for. I think I'll have to reduce the quantities a bit though - who needs 3 dozen muffins, or two large loaves, at once? LOL!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Certainly not my waistline!