I made these caramel butterscotch blondies a few weeks ago and they got rave reviews from my coworkers. They’re a nice break from all the pumpkin spice everything that’s been going around – don’t get me wrong, I love pumpkin just as much (and possibly more) than the next person, but there are so many other great fall flavors that you don’t want to miss out on. Personally, I think butterscotch is an underrated flavor.

Butterscotch with caramel is even better.

Butterscotch blondies with a layer of gooey homemade caramel sauce baked into them is the best.

Making the caramel sauce from scratch is the hardest part of this recipe – but even homemade caramel is not really that hard!

Don’t be intimidated by it, just make sure to use a light-colored pan so you can more easily monitor the color. And don’t use a nonstick pan, the coating on nonstick pans can interfere with the caramelization and cause it to crystallize.

Also, PSA, do not try to stick your hand in the caramel or taste test it after taking it off the stove, it is incredibly hot and sticky and you will get bad sugar burns.

In other news, and speaking of fall flavors aside from pumpkin, I currently have seven pounds of apples on my kitchen table and am not 100% sure what I’m going to do with them all… some friends and I went apple picking last weekend and I ended up with a lot Fuji, Pink Lady, and Gold Rush apples.

Plus half a gallon of fresh apple cider and a jar of maple apple bacon jam (I topped some baked Camembert with that and wow, so good). So I’m about to spend this long holiday weekend baking up an apple-flavored storm… maybe I should incorporate some butterscotch or caramel too?

Ingredients

Caramel Sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream

Butterscotch Blondies

• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 12 oz. package butterscotch chips
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 cups light brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and line a 9×13 pan with parchment.

Make the caramel sauce. Spread the sugar in the bottom of a light colored, stainless saucepan, making sure it’s in an even layer. Add just enough water to completely cover the sugar; this isn’t necessary but I find it helps the sugar start to cook more gently and decreases the risk of it burning.

Heat over medium-high heat. Let the sugar cook down (the water will boil off). Don’t stir (this can make it crystallize), but you can swirl the pan if it seems to be caramelizing more quickly in one spot.

Once a light caramel color, remove from the heat and add the butter and heavy cream. The caramel will bubble up, carefully whisk until smooth. Pour into a glass and let cool while you make the blondies.

For the blondies, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

In a double boiler (or a glass bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water), melt together the butter and butterscotch chips. It may look like the chips are separating and not coming together with the butter, but just keep stirring and it will eventually become homogeneous. Let cool slightly.

Stir the eggs and vanilla into the butterscotch mixture. Fold in the flour mixture.

Spread 3/4 of the blondie batter into the prepared pan. Pour the cooled caramel on top and top with the remaining blondie batter. You can smooth the blondie batter on top or swirl it together with the caramel, baker’s choice. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until blondie batter is baked through. Let cool completely before removing from pan and slicing so that the caramel can set. Enjoy!