Maple Butterscotch Brownies

I first tried this recipe about 15 years ago. Each time I make them, I wonder why I don't make them more often! They use pretty basic ingredients (once you've bought the bottle of maple flavoring) & are quick to make.


Maple Butterscotch Brownies
Printable version here

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted (or a combination of both)
1 1/2 tsp. imitation maple flavoring
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts*

1. In a bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and maple flavoring. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to egg mixture. Stir in walnuts. The batter will be thick at this point.

2. Spread into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. Bake at 350º for 30-35 minutes or until brownies test done/look set (mine take about 35 minutes). Cool. Cut into 16 squares. Enjoy!

*Walnuts- for best flavor, toast them first. Here is a page talking about how to do it. I toasted mine in a 350º oven on a baking stone for 10 minutes, stirred them, then baked 5 more minutes. Take them out & cool before chopping.

Ready to be spread out in the parchment-lined pan:


Ready to bake:


Baked, cooled, and ready to be cut into bars (I trimmed off the edges to make them look a little nicer):


Why I love it? Well, what first turned me on to this recipe was that it didn't have chocolate in it (years ago I went through a chocolate-free phase, and found this recipe). If you can't eat chocolate, or for some crazy reason don't want to :) this is a good brownie alternative. The maple smell & taste is amazing! They're soft, chewy, mmm... now mine just need to hurry up and cool so I can eat them! One thing they are not, however, is healthy... so eat sparingly. ;)