Butterscotch Bars Recipe

January, February and March - by default these should be the slowest months of the year. After all, we came from the mad holiday rush, we all deserve a break. And so I believe in the next few months, everyday should be all be Sundays. 

Sundays where everyone should sleep in late (or if you're a morning person - okay to get up early, too) and just rest, read a book or spend a day in the park or the beach. And while we're all at it, make some butterscotch bars to munch on all day. These butterscotch bars are a perfect companion to perfect Sundays. And as a treat, I'm going to show you how. 

Butterscotch Bars Recipe
from Food.com
350F/makes 18 bars

What we need:

1/3 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped cashew nuts

 Here's how:
(1) In a small saucepan, mix together the butter and brown sugar until butter has just melted. Let it cool before proceeding to #2.

 (2) Add the egg to the sugar-butter mixture.

 (3) Mix thoroughly until well combined.

(4) Add in flour, baking powder (make sure to sift them together before adding to the batter at this point) and vanilla.

 (5) Fold in 3/4 cup cashew nuts.

 (6) Pout  batter into a lined 8"x8" pan. Sprinkle remaining cashew nuts.

 (7) Bake for 30 minutes.

(8) Make sure to cool completely before cutting it up into bars.

Perfect with coffee or milk. Your choice :) Have a great week ahead everyone!

Sink your teeth...

into some Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars!

“Sink your teeth” reminds me of Twilight. That’s because I’ve been re-reading the saga in time for the third installment to be shown by end of June. I know someone (ahem) counting the days till June 30.

But this is not about Twilight, (but it gave me an idea… anyone want an Eclipse cupcake?) it’s about this amazing Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars that Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel generously shared through their Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Do you have a sweet tooth?
But isn’t fond of chocolate?
Then this is for…

YOU

Go ahead… satisfy that sweet tooth and sink your teeth into these bars.

Carrie Zinnecker posted Magnolia Bakery's recipe on her site. I'm re-posting it here in case you're interested.

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Apricot Cream Cheese Streusel Bars

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup butter, slightly softened and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups all purpose flour

Cream Cheese Filling

1/2 pound cream cheese softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

1 t vanilla

Filling

3/4 cup apricot jam

Streusel Topping

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup butter, slightly softened cut in 1 inch pieces

Prodecure

Preheat oven to 350

Crust

In a large bowl beat together butter and flour on medium speed until crumbly and well combined. Pat the mixture evenly and firmly into a 13 x 9 pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling

Beat together cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Set aside.

Streusel Topping

Mix together the flour and powdered sugar. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Assembly

Spread the cream cheese filling on the cooled crust about 1/4 inch from the edges. Gently spread the jam over the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel over the entire top. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature before cutting.

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Happy Cupcaking,

Aikko