Today’s food holiday doesn’t really honor a brownie so much as a blondie, despite the name. May 9 is National Butterscotch Brownie Day!
I’d never heard of a butterscotch brownie before. I figured it was a chocolate brownie made with butterscotch chips, but that’s not the case at all. A butterscotch brownie is really just another name for a blondie, or a blonde brownie, which we already celebrated once this year. The butterscotch doesn’t even refer to actual butterscotch chips, but rather, the ingredients that go into making butterscotch: brown sugar and butter. Which are part of what makes up butterscotch brownies. Are you confused yet? I am!
Chocolate brownies may be more popular, but butterscotch brownies have been around about a hundred years longer. They date back to the 19th century, and are based on gingerbread cakes that were popular during the Renaissance period. Those cakes evolved into flatter ones baked in shallow pans that often included nuts and brown sugar. As delicious as they are, they just don’t have the same appeal as their darker cousin, the brownie. I get it. Chocolate is sexy. Butterscotch brownies literally pale in comparison, and are never topped with frosting. But, as I’ve said, they’re still quite good.
Tara made us a batch of butterscotch brownies from scratch. They were fantastic! Very butterscotchy
Related articles
- Blondies are the New Brownies (savoryandsweet.com)
- Blondies have more fun (toledoblade.com)
- Butterscotch Brownies (derdo.wordpress.com)
Eat My Words 
Looks good but I’ll take regular chocolate brownies any day!
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I agree, but they were definitely tasty!
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Who knew? I do now!
I think I speak for most people when you say butterscotch brownies it’s with butterscotch chips. That was my first thought.
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That was mine, too. I almost bought the ingredients – which would have included butterscotch chips – in advance without looking at a recipe or the history. Luckily, Tara stopped me. These definitely tasted like butterscotch even without the chips.
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