Brown Sugary Sweetness: Clementine's Butterscotch Brownies

When I saw last week's Culinary SOS column in the Los Angeles Times, I knew I would have to make the featured recipe as soon as possible -- butterscotch brownies from Clementine Bakery.  Clementine's banana cake recipe that was featured in Culinary SOS in 2008 is very good, and the bakery's strawberry scone recipe that appeared in Culinary SOS in 2005 is phenomenal.

You can put together the butterscotch brownie recipe in only a few minutes -- you simply melt butter, and then add in dark brown sugar, an extra large egg, vanilla, sifted dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt), and walnuts.  The resulting mixture was very thick and I had to use an offset spatula to spread the mixture out in the pan. 

The finished bars (I think that these should be called "bars" instead of "brownies" since they don't contain any chocolate) were a rather unexciting shade of tan.  They were very moist and fairly thin in the middle of the pan, but taller and chewier along the edges.  They definitely have a very strong brown sugar/butterscotch flavor -- in fact, I thought that they were way too sweet, although at least having the nuts in there did add some flavor and texture contrast.  But if you like your sweets on the sweet side, these bars are an easy way to get a brown sugar fix!

Recipe: "Clementine's Butterscotch Brownies," from the April 7, 2011 Los Angeles Times.

Comments

Lisa said…
Oh my word, these look like bites of butterscotch bliss. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your brownies up. http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/04/sweets-for-saturday-13.html
Mary Bergfeld said…
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I've just made these a second time (This time by weighing ingredients) and my results are the same. I end up with a fudge-type brownie. I just can't figure what we are doing differently. My oven has been re-calibrated so I don't think that's the problem. This really is a puzzle. One good thing - it led me to your wonderful blog. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary
T-D. Gonzalez said…
@Mary: I work about two blocks from Clementine, near Century City in West Los Angeles, and I am very familiar with this item. I absolutely LOVE these butterscotch brownies, and I also found the recipe in the LA Times's Culinary SOS column. It's a popular column in Los Angeles, where the newspaper prints recipes from popular L.A. restaurants that have been recalculated for home cooks.

I baked two batches of these over the last weekend, and I need to let you know that yours are not cooked all the way through. Your photos are much more impressive looking than the actual product, which has the exact texture of a great homemade brownie (which is why Clementine calls them “Butterscotch Brownies”). Yours are raw and runny in the middle (think uncooked egg). They should be crunchy at the corners and edges, and chewy in the middle.

The batter does RISE while baking, but then it FLATTENS. I lowered the baking temp (to about 312-315 degrees) and baked them for about 45 minutes. A skewer inserted in the middle comes out CLEAN (or with VERY scant crumbs). If it comes out wet, then it isn’t cooked all the way through. The final result will not be as pretty as your photo. It will look like a flat brownie, but the texture will be iNCREDIBLE. I hope you will give this recipe another try.
Ah, thanks so much for the info -- I really need to visit Clementine the next time I am in LA! I appreciate the insight from someone who has had the real thing!