Butterscotch Bars

My husband has an unholy obsession with butterscotch. Seriously. He loves cookies or bars with those butterscotch chips that are sold next to the chocolate ones. I find them a little gross - something about super-sweet hydrogenated palm oil and artificial flavors just doesn't please my palate. But, this recipe rocks! Leave it to the folks at America's Test Kitchen!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars

Makes 36 Bars

Bars
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened, each stick cut into 8 pieces
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg

Glaze
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butterscotch chips

1. For the bars: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 13 by 9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving overhang on all sides.

2. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until nutty brown in color, about 12 minutes. Pour hot butter over butterscotch chips in large bowl and whisk until smooth. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved, then whisk in vanilla and egg until combined. Stir in flour mixture in two additions until combined.

3. Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 17 to 19 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack.

4. For the glaze: Bring brown sugar, water, and salt to simmer in small saucepan. Pour hot sugar mixture over butterscotch chips in small bowl, whisking until smooth. Drizzle glaze over warm bars and cool on rack until warm to touch, about 1 1/2 hours.

5. Using foil overhang, lift bars from pan and cool completely on rack, about 30 minutes. Cut into bars and serve. (Bars will keep in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

Granola

Today I made granola with my son. He's 4 months shy of three and a great kitchen helper. I try to get him into the kitchen at least once a week. He is a big fan of granola and yogurt but every time I look at the ingredients, I think there must be a way to improve the nutritional value.
This week I accidentally bought plain yogurt instead of our usual vanilla flavored. I think this was serendipitous because it made me look at how much sugar was necessary to sweeten the yogurt to its normal sweetness vs. how much made it just yummy. The same was true for the granola. We combined:
3 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup Grape-Nuts cereal (this cereal has 90% of daily iron and since my son isn't much on meat it's a great power house for him)
1 cup rice flake cereal (like Special K)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds

He had a great time scooping all of these and then mixing them together. He also likes to taste the ingredients one by one which was a great way to get his buy-in on the final product.

Then, I added a glop of vegetable oil, a bit of maple syrup, and a bit of brown sugar along with some cinnamon. (maybe about 1/3 - 1/2 cup total.) I threw that liquid combo in the microwave to get it well combined before tossing it all together and toasting it in the oven at 300 for about 45 minutes.

We added some chopped dried apples and cranberries to the finished mix as it cooled. Yum!