I haven’t posted in almost 6 months. That’s pretty insane considering I’ve been cooking and eating a lot of delicious recipes during that time. I got a little sidetracked with other things that I had going on, and I didn’t feel the urge to share what I was making in the kitchen. But I’m back and ready to share an absolutely wonderful blondie recipe that I adapted ever so slightly from the always marvelous Smitten Kitchen.

I used to think, “why make blondies when you could just make brownies?”. It seemed counterintuitive to leave out chocolate and leave the sugar and butter blank. But we all have days when a nice warm sugar cookie sounds more appealing than a chocolate chip one. So the same must be true of blondies. At least, that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn because I am now equally attracted to both. And as far as the Buttershots* goes, well that’s just a butterscotch liqueur that adds a, you guessed it, toasty butterscotch flavor to the otherwise standard blondies.

*I was first introduced to Buttershots by my aunt, who would pour a bit of it into a saucepan of warm apple cider. Just thinking about it makes me want a mug full.

INGREDIENTS:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 cup flour, plus 2 tbsp

1 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup Buttershots liqueur

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Generous pinch of salt*

*I find these to be too sweet as is, so I like grinding some sea salt on them once they’re done cooling in addition to this pinch of table salt.

DIRECTIONS:

Spray an 8×8 pan with non-stick baking spray, or smear with butter.

Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.

Add salt, stir in all of the flour. Mix in the Buttershots and chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. To be honest, I always take it out a little before it’s completely set because A) it will keep cooking for a couple of minutes once it’s out of the oven, and B) I like them gooier than a Nicholas Sparks novel.