Butterscotch Bourbon Bars

My husband has a coworker who apparently delighted in the Jack-and-Coke cupcakes I made earlier this year. This coworker had a birthday earlier this week, and being a glutton for compliments, I decided again to make something that adds a little rock 'n roll edge to the humble baked good.

I did a little Googling around, and stumbled upon this recipe for Butterscotch Bourbon Bars. It sounds like a spin on a Blondie, and the unique combination of flavors seemed perfect. Even better? This is a really, really easy recipe. Like, crazy easy.

Some tips before I go any further: I didn't make any changes to the recipe in the link EXCEPT I doubled the recipe to fit my 13 X 9 baking pan. I do, however, wish these had come out a little more dense and less cakey, so if any of you has a suggestion on how to make that happen, I'm open to it.

Preheat the oven to 350, then mix your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt and light brown sugar. This is where my "easy peasy quick" dessert took a bad turn; my brown sugar was as hard as a brick. I used a trick recommended on the box: put the brick in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with two damp paper towels, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and nuke it for 30-second intervals. I did two intervals, and it worked just fine.

The problem, however, was that it started to revert to clump form again almost immediately, so I ended up panning for nuggets of brown sugar with a slotted spoon. It was ridiculous, but I got through it.

Next, mix your wet ingredients (EXCEPT BOURBON): milk, melted butter, vanilla extract and eggs. Just whisk them together, no mixer necessary!

Pour the wet in with the dry and give it a few good stirs to mix it.

Then add your bourbon, and stir that together.

Fold in the butterscotch morsels, and pour the batter into a pan, either lined with parchment paper or buttered.

Pop the mixture into the oven for about 20 minutes, then insert a toothpick to see if it's done.

I was surprised how cakey mine came out, but it was still delicious. The bourbon will mostly cook out, but leaves a hint of flavor and mixes fabulously with the butterscotch.

The coworker, by the way, loved them, so I'm basking in my baking success!