White Chocolate & Butterscotch Blondies

Happy Birthday Jen!

Since I love to bake, I usually ask my department at work to put in a request for a special baked birthday goodie.  So far this year, I made Angel Food cake (so hard!) for Jess and mini apple pies for Liuva. When I asked Jen what she wanted, she said she wanted something with white chocolate. Now, I don't know about you, but white chocolate is not my favorite ingredient.  I couldn't make white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies because Liuva is allergic to tree nuts.  So I found a recipe for White Chocolate Blondies.  The original recipe called for white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate, but I modified it to become....

White Chocolate and Butterscotch Blondies

 These things are delicious! I have to admit that I was skeptical at first because as I already mentioned, white chocolate is not my favorite.  Anyway, here's how it goes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. I highly recommend getting an in-oven thermometer to make sure that your oven is calibrated correctly. Once I started using mine, I learned that I have to wait a good deal longer than when it beeps at me for the oven to actually be preheated to the correct temperature.

First the recipe calls for 1 stick of softened butter.  Mine was completely frozen, so I threw it in the microwave in a 4 cup pyrex dish to get it started. 

Next, you need 8 oz. of white chocolate. I used regular Nestle white chocolate chips, but some of the comments on the original recipe mentioned that if you use better quality white chocolate that it's easier to incorporate the chocolate and the butter.   After my first mishap with the chips (you'll see in a sec), I had no problem with the chips, but I did get an arm workout!

(PS - This scale is from Ikea and it works great. You can measure in both grams and ounces.
I think it was about $20 a few years ago.)

So anyway, one of the shortcuts that someone listed in the comments section of the recipe was to put the butter and the chocolate in the microwave in a glass bowl for about 4 minutes at 40% power, stirring halfway through. This is what it looked like after 2 minutes.

This is when I learned that I did not actually know how to correctly put my microwave at 40% power.  Oops.

 

Anyway, despite the curdled mess that you see here, it actually smelled pretty good... almost like caramel.  But, it was unusable. A bowl full of burnt sugar.  Apparently, I had put the micro on at full blast for 40 seconds.

I only had 4oz. of white chocolate left, but a whole bag of butterscotch chips. I contemplated for a second to make a batch of butterscotch bars, with the white chocolate mixed in, but I thought that the butterscotch flavor would be too overwhelming for a whole bar.  So, luckily I live in a walkable neighborhood and ran across the street to the grocery store to pick up some more white chocolate.

Back to square one. This time I followed the original instructions, and melted the chocolate and butter in a double boiler (a make-shift one anyway).

I've got another lesson for you.  If your pot has a spout on it, be VERY careful. I burned my finger on the steam that was escaping from the hole. :(

Back to the stirring. The chocolate melts in three stages I noticed.  I actually thought I messed up again, because the chocolate looked smooth at the beginning, but then after a little bit it began to look a little curdled again (just not burnt).  I turned the heat off, but kept the bowl over the steam and continued to stir. And stir some more.  Just keeeeeeeep stirring. I promise it will all come together eventually.

Next, butter or line a baking dish with parchment paper. I love parchment paper! It is so easy to use and makes cleanup so much better.  The recipe actually called for a 9x9 dish, but I only had something that was like 8x11 and they came out fine.

Using my pretty, yellow KitchenAid mixer, I beat 2 eggs until foamy.

With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar, salt, vanilla and white chocolate.
Taking pictures while pouring is not the easiest. Haha.

It should look like this after:

 At this point, the recipes tells you to fold the flour into the mixture using a rubber spatula, which I did. But I think you could just as easily add the flour to the mixer. Make sure you scrape down those sides! Fold in white chocolate and butterscotch chips.

 Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Bake for 25 minutes (mine took 27) in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick  inserted in the middle comes out clean (honestly, mine wasn't COMPLETELY clean. I pulled it out when the top got a few golden brown spots). Cool pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

And voila! As you can see, I wouldn't really classify these as blondies. They are less cookie/cake-like, and more melt-in-your-mouth like fudge.  Definitely very dense and moist... and most importantly delicious! I think that you could make this recipe with any type of chips. I think next time I'm going to try a chocolate bar with peanut butter chips mixed in.

What combination would you make?


Enjoy!

White Chocolate Blondies

Ingredients:
8 ounces white chocolate, chips or chopped
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch
baking pan. Melt white chocolate and butter in the top of a double
boiler, over barely simmering water. Stir until smooth.
Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs until foamy.
With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and vanilla.
Drizzle in the melted white chocolate mixture. Combine the flour and
salt; fold into the white chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula or
wooden spoon. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly into
the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick
inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool pan on a wire rack before
cutting into bars.