Butterscotch Brownies

So, I love chocolate.  A lot.  But my husband is not as big a fan as I am, so he has introduced me to many non-chocolate desserts - among them, the butterscotch brownie.  Honestly, my husband makes these better than I do, and this is his family recipe, but he has given me permission to share it.  Lucky you.

His mom sent me the recipe in an e-mail:

Butterscotch Brownies

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup walnuts (optional)

1 pk chocolate chips (optional)

Cook at 350

Melt butter and dissolve sugar

Let cool

Stir in egg

Add flour, baking powder, salt

Stir in vanilla and nuts and chocolate chips

Grease and and flour 9x13 pan

Cook 25-30 min

Now I will show you how my wonderful husband masters this treat.
First, you take the 2 sticks of butter (1 cup) and 2 cups of brown sugar and put them on the stove.

This is really important: DO NOT BOIL IT!  Just melt the butter and dissolve the sugar.  If you allow it to boil, the sugar can burn or crystallize.  What a mess.  Just melt it on medium heat for a few minutes until the butter is all incorporated.  

This is also really important: LET IT COOL!  Remove it from the heat and give it a few minutes to cool.  Wait until it's only lukewarm.  Next you will add the eggs, and if you add the eggs while the mixture is still too hot, you will have sugary scrambled eggs.  Gross.  Give it 5-10 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the walnuts and chocolate chips if you are adding those) and mix well.

It should be a very smooth batter.  And it tastes like caramel.  It's so good.  Put it in a greased 9x13 pan (sprinkle on the walnuts and chocolate chips now if you so choose) and cook for 25-30 minutes or until you can put a fork in the middle and it comes out clean.  

Make it right now.  

Serve it with ice cream, or milk, or just eat the whole pan.  It truly is hard to stop.