Butterscotch’s primary ingredients are butter and brown sugar.  What’s not to love?  Because I am a cook, I always notice the foods characters eat in books that I am reading, so much so that I am right now on my third revision of a lamb stew with prunes, inspired by the sponsor gift that Katniss received from a sponsor in The Hunger Games, and my friend, Mindy, gave me for Christmas one year a cook book that is filled with recipes inspired by Game of Thrones.

As I am coming to the end of J. K. Rowling’s literary masterpiece, the Harry Potter books, I have spent time thinking of Harry Potter foods.  One recurring favorite is treacle tart.  The earliest known recipes for butterscotch, in mid-19th century Yorkshire, used treacle (molasses) in place of or in addition to sugar.  So this morning, I was thinking butterscotch when I started putting this recipe together.  Andrew and I are admittedly sugar deprived, but this recipe is really quite delicious.

Ingredients

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 and 2/3 cup butterscotch chips (this is one package)
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 13″ baking pan.

Whisk together flour with the baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Beat together the butter with the brown sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients until combined. The batter will be quite solid and somewhat stiff. Fold in the butterscotch chips and pecans.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Let the blondies cool in the pan, then invert onto a plate or cutting board. Invert again, then cut into squares and serve.