Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Butter Icing

      We went over to our new friends' house for dinner the other night and I volunteered to make dessert, cause hello! I began the hunt for just the right recipe! We were having grilled bbq chicken (which was so tasty! I love home-made bbq sauce!), corn on the cob, salad, and watermelon, and I wanted a dessert that would blend with that. I immediately pictured some kind of handheld bar of some type. I searched and searched, and ended up using a recipe that I already had in my dessert folder, waiting to be tested! My husband agreed that this was the dessert!

     Now, if you're a diabetic, or have any issues with sugar... do not venture any closer! You will be swallowed by the amount of sugar in these bars. But who am I kidding myself... I'm willing to go into a sugar coma for something this tasty! So bring it on!

     Start out by beating together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Then add your eggs and vanilla and beat until their all lovey dovey.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt and mix well. 

Then add the flour mixture, in 3 different batches, to the sugar mixture and mix on low until incorporated.

It should look like this when you're done.

Add your chopped pecans and blend one more time.

Pour batter onto a greased half sheet and realize that it's too thick to spread with a spatula.

So, whip out your way cool little angled cake spatula 

(if you don't have one of these, get one, they make life easier!)

And easily spread the batter!

Then, lick the spatula, of course! Holy cow! Delicious!

I'm not preggers anymore, so I can do that now!

Unless you're my friend Sara who has some weird phobia of licking any batter off the utensils... Crazy!

Then bake for 25-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool for 30 minutes.

Now for the icing: in a saucepan over medium, melt the butter and sugar.

Once a little bubbly, turn down to low and stir for 2 minutes.

Beat together the powdered sugar, half and half and vanilla until creamy.

Then add in the melted butter mixture slowly, and beat until combined.

It will look like this when it's all finished. Yummy! Lick those beaters! Don't waste that!

Use the cool spatula again to spread the warm caramel-y frosting over the brownies.

I had about 1/2 to 1 cup left of frosting that I didn't use.

Move quick because the frosting begins to dry immediately.

Let the frosting sit for 30 minutes so it hardens and it cuts clean. 

Then pray that you have the ability to wait 30 minutes!

Oh dear are these tasty! 

Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Butter Icing

Ingredients:

For the Brownies: 

1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 C brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla

3 C flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 C chopped pecans (mine were salted, so it made the brownies extra tasty!)

For the Frosting:

1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 C brown sugar

4 C powdered sugar

1/3 C half and half

1 tbsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350, and line a half sheet (13x18 in) pan with foil and grease (use the paper the butter was in to grease since you have that already)

Blend together the butter and sugar on med until fluffy, about 2 minutes. 

Add eggs and vanilla and beat for another minute.

In another bowl mix your dry ingredients (Flour, baking powder, and salt).

Beat dry ingredients into the wet ingredients on low until fully mixed together.

Stir in the pecans and pour into the greased baking sheet, smoothing it down with your cool spatula.

Bake until kinda fluffy (25-30 minutes) and cool completely before frosting.

Melt the butter and sugar on the stove in a small pan.

Once it begins to bubbly a little bit, turn down the heat and stir occasionally for 2 more minutes.

In a bowl, mix together the half and half with the vanilla and powdered sugar until creamy.

Slowly pour in the butter mixture and mix together until all yummy and tan looking.

Working quickly, pour frosting over the brownies and use the cool spatula to spread it. 

Let the brownies sit for another 30 minutes to allow the frosting to set so that it is easier to cut.

The directions suggest wrapping the brownies in strips of parchment paper for a cute look, and to keep the frosting from sticking if you stack them. 

They will keep for up to 3 days in an air-tight container.

So excuse me while I go scarf down the rest of the brownies since I only have one more day until they go bad... the things I do in the name of cooking! Pity me! 

Recipe courtesy of: iVillage