These Butterscotch Brownies are soft, chewy and incredibly easy! They only use one bowl to mix! Brown sugar and butter make these delightfully addicting as a snack, dessert or with an afternoon coffee.
My middle/high school in St. Louis served lunch "family-style," which basically meant you either ate what they were serving or you ate salad bar. Let me tell you – that salad bar got old fast. Before you start to feel too badly for me, I should tell you that dessert was usually damn good (and my Mom would pack me a healthy bag lunch to eat in my free period, but that’s another story for another time)!
My all-time favorite dessert that they served, the one dessert that still makes me giddier than chocolate flourless cake, was Butterscotch Brownies.
You heard me right: more than chocolate. I’ll give you a moment to process that.
I got so excited about these brownies, and thus endeared myself to the kitchen staff, that they would pack up a plate for me to bring home. No joke. I would stop by the kitchen on the way to swim practice, and they would hand me a foil-wrapped plate.
Maybe I would share, maybe I wouldn't. I loved those Butterscotch Brownies.
And then one tragic day my junior year, my school switched cooking companies, and not only was my favorite brownie smuggler gone but so were the butterscotch brownies! Tear.
Since then, I have searched every cookbook I owned and lots I didn't (shhh, don't tell Barnes & Noble!) for a butterscotch brownie recipe only to come up with nada. Rien. None. Until one day, my wonderful fiancé brought home two 1950's cookbooks that he bought at an estate sale for $1 each. I could barely contain my excitement when I saw that Betty Crocker's Cookbook (1984 Edition) included a recipe for my beloved butterscotch brownies!
These butterscotch brownies are dangerously delicious. And they are remarkably fast and easy to pull together. One bowl. One pan. One magical dessert. Chewy and sweet. Addicting. They would be an amazing base for some mix-ins, but today, I am a purist.
I know that everyone else in the Free World calls these Blondies. If I had figured that out 15 years earlier, my search for a recipe would have been a whole lot quicker. But I didn’t, okay? My Butterscotch Brownie clouded brain was a little slow on the uptake.
Butterscotch Brownies aka Blondies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8x8 baking dish.
- Melt butter over stovetop or at 50% power in the microwave. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, egg and vanilla; mix until completely incorporated.
- Stir in remaining ingredients. The mixture will be thick. Spread in greased baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes in preheated oven. The bake time will depend on the dish you choose!
- Betty Crocker suggests cutting these while still warm. I think they actually cut cleaner when completely cooled. Not that I waited until they were cooled to eat one. No patience! Makes 16 bars.
Notes
funny...until I read the narrative and comments for this recipe, i thought I was the only person harboring fond memories and cravings for my hs's blonde/butterscotch brownies. cant wait to try these!
Glad you found it!
Will it turn out the same if I double the recipe to make a bigger batch?
Absolutely!!!
oh my goodness....delicious....thank you....I cut them smaller.....and YES butter is better
I'm so glad you liked them!!! a
These were awesome! I LOVE butterscotch, so I decided to add about a cup of butterscotch chips as well, and man these were great. Thanks so much for the recipe, my family is raving!
A perfect addition, Gracie! I am so glad your family enjoyed them! Happy baking!
I went to JBS in the late ‘70s, and we had them then! I still remember them, and Bernice!
That is so crazy!
This recipe is SO similar to the one my mom made all the time growing up. She used to add shredded coconut sometimes too! Ever tried that? Makes me love them even more!!
Hi Lindsey! I haven't but that sounds fantastic! I'll have to give it a try!
I have th recipe out of a cook book before 1950 and the recipe was Butterscotch Brownies, they called for sweetened coconut, my husband has been looking for this recipe for over 40 years. Found it on Thanksgiving at a friends house
I'm so glad my life-quest helped you too!
Could I make these in a 9x13 pan? Double the recipe?
Yes, absolutely!
I have made these for years for my family. I have a Betty Crocker 40th anniversary edition cookbook from 1991 that has the butterscotch brownies recipe (with shortening) though I always leave out the nuts (daughter who is allergic). This is one of my family's favorite desserts. I always double the recipe and have even quadrupled it for church potlucks and cooked in a large roasting/steam table pan. I will have to try the recipe substituting butter.
I left out the nuts too! But only because I don't feel like they belong in brownies or blondies lol. It is so delicious with butter! Happy baking!
Did you go to Burroughs?! Because I loved the butterscotch brownies that the school cafeteria served at family-style meals. And that's what I was thinking of when I found your recipe!
I DID go to JBS! I assume you did too! When did you graduate?!
I graduated many moons ago... 1989. So I don't think we were there at the same time. This recipe was so like the brownies they served. Thanks!
I actually stalked you on your website after responding! We weren't there at the same time but I bet the blondies were the same! They switched kitchen companies my Junior year and the blondies went with the old company 🙁 I'm so glad you enjoyed them. It took me years to find something similar.
Thanks so much for searching for years. I can't tell you how happy it made me to find the recipe!
Well that is why I do this! To bring joy to others 🙂
hoping these turn out like the ones I had as a kid.... Waiting on this slow oven.....thanks for the receipe
Haha! I hope they did, Nickie!
Thank you for posting this! I was frantically searching my recipes for my moms butter scotch brownie recipe to no avail! This is it!!!!!
Thanks again!!
I'm so glad you found it Linda!! This recipe is a keeper! Happy baking!
I too have spent many many years searching for the Butterscotch Brownies my mom made in the fifties and sixties. Thank you so much for sharing it. Of course, now I've been diagnosed with very advanced celiac disease, so will need to find a way to convert it to gluten free. Just looking at the pictures satisfied a longing for home.
Well I'm glad you found them! Let me know if you find a way to make them gluten free and just as tasty!
Thank you for posting this recipe. My husband has been talking about his love for Bernice's Butterscotch Brownies for the last 20 years that I have known him. He would tell me how he would devour them for lunch at his STL middle/high school cafeteria. Sound familiar? So today after google-ing it and reading your recipe, I suspected I found it which was later confirmed after he ate half of the pan. Thank you for making his day awesome. And btw, he is flummoxed on how you were able to get an extra plate on the side....:)
No way!!!!! I am so happy you found the recipe! I got extra because I made friends with the kitchen staff and they would save me some for after school 🙂 I was crazy about them and so grateful for extra! lol
YES! These were delicious!...I am especially happy to say so, since I was told to make a double batch using someone else's recipe...and they were dry and icky. Luckily, I found your recipe and despite being strictly instructed to use the other recipe, I boldly used yours with beautiful results! AND, I was happy to substitute the shortening for butter..and I wasn't ashamed to drop them off! Thanks a million!
LOL! You are so very welcome!!! I am overjoyed that you loved them! I am picky about my butterscotch brownies and these are one of my favorites! They are also incredibly easy! If you have a little bit more time you should try these brown butter blondies...omg so goooooood! If you want them plain you can leave out the chocolate chips and caramel...the base recipe is delicious by itself too!
I also have been searching for about 15 years for this recipe, at one time it was listed on the usda recipe site, who'd DID have several of my favorite from school lunches, alas I failed to print the recipes before the new standards went into effect, but now I am pretty sure these Re the same ones, thanks for posting them!
Same recipe as in The Joy of Cooking (1971) entitled "butterscotch brownies" save for 1/2 cup of sifted flour resifted with the baking powder and baked in a 9x9 inch pan. This is my go-to cookbook for the classics!
I don't have that edition! I have a facsimile of the 1st edition but it has yet to become my favorite probably because of this incident. I got this recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook (1984) - but I substituted butter for shortening. I'll have to search out the 1971 Joy cookbook!
I just made the JOC recipe and doubled the recipe for a 9 x 13 pan. Twice as much sugar as flour, wow, but they sure are good!! I added chocolate chips.
Hhah! There is soooo much sugar! Love the addition of chocolate chips!
I remember these as a kid and called them Butterscotch Brownies. My mom still has her 1950s edition of her Betty Crocker cookbook where we got the recipe. She sent me the recipe but I couldn't find it (hadn't made them in awhile). I looked on the internet and found your recipe but then subsequently found mine. They are very similar but the Betty Crocker version calls for a cup of light brown sugar (packed) and only 1/2 tsp of vanilla. They sure are good!! I made a blondie recipe recently a friend gave me and they were not nearly as tasty.
Hi Kerrie! These are from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1984 edition. She must have revised the vanilla since the 1950's version! I'll have to try the older one out. I don't remember but I probably just used dark brown sugar because that is what I had on hand! 🙂 I've tried a couple more modern blondie recipes that I like...some I've posted about.
I actually have everything to make these at home! Definitely going to try them 🙂 it's lime the perfect recipe to make when you want something sweet but don't want to find yourself stuck in the kitchen for hours. 🙂
It is definitely an excellent, no-fail, easy blondie recipe! My only advice is to double the recipe! Let me know how it goes!
When you have more time, you should try the blondie recipe from this post. It will blow you away!
Help! I always fail. I never get the slightly crunchy top and gooey center. It’s like a cake. Please help! I had these as a kid and the baker did it perfectly. I know how it should be. Just like the picture.
Hey Stefanie, you probably need to bake them slightly less. Baking them in a pyrex (glass baking dish) can also help because they bake a bit slower than a metal pan and don't get as crispy.
This was my go to after school sweets recipe. My mom was not into sweets or anything processed but we always had these ingredients on hand. Our recipe came from the Betty Crocker Cooky Book.
awwwwww that's so lovely that you found your long lost butterscotch blondies! But girl...BETTER than flourless chocolate cake? I dunnoooo 😛
LOL I know. It's a tough call!
I just made these, and like every other time I have tried to make butterscotch brownies, they were gooey inside. Maybe they're supposed to be? But chocolate brownies aren't.. I usually bake them extra long, still gooey.
Hi Liz! They are gooey inside generally. The "gooey" texture isn't necessarily because they are underbaked but because of the combination of lots of butter and brown sugar. Just cool them before cutting. If you don't like the gooey texture use a different recipe like these which are less "gooey"
Supposed to be gooey
Bake them less, Susan...
1. I love this recipe - I still work from the original Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook that I inherited from my mum
2. I refuse to call them "blondies"
3. I NEVER put nuts in them (blech)
4. It IS hard to get consistency in the result. A crinkly top usually means the right doneness inside, but as a teenager I repeated this recipe a zillion times, and nothing seemed to guarantee perfect results. I tried different sized pans, cold eggs, room eggs, soft butter, melted butter, etc... You get what you get. The universe seems to decide.
Haha! I couldn't agree with you more, Jen! Happy Butterscotch Brownie baking!