butterscotch bites

I miss my oven. I miss whisking, blending, pouring, toothpick-testing, tasting.I just miss baking.My need to bake finally beat out my only-slightly weaker summertime urge to ice cream everything.Thus -- butterscotch bites.Oh yes...they have brown butter.Brown butter in the summer. It's not seasonal. Brown butter is fabulous any time of year. 

These truly are butterscotch bliss.They're moist and chewy and super butterscotchy.I kind of conned Julia into helping me make these by calling these butterscotch "power" bites.As in, special super hero powers. Like...running faster.

She has the Captain America shield-frisbee and a crazy-big yellow plastic sword.She has the Spider-Man pajamas. She's very excited about the Thor movie.And she's totally into princesses.

Once again, the America's Test Kitchen cooks do not disappoint.

These taste every bit as good as they smell.

And they smell awesome.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Barsadapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking BookBars:

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (see note)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 heaping teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butterscotch chips
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 egg (I lightly beat 1 egg and used about half)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

• 1/8 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon water
• pinch of kosher salt

For the bars: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 7 x 11 or 8 x 8 baking pan with foil and butter or spray with vegetable spray.In small bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking soda and salt.Pour butterscotch chips in large bowl. Set aside.In small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and simmer for about 12 minutes, until butter is fragrant and golden brown. Pour hot brown butter over butterscotch chips and whisk until smooth.Whisk in brown sugar until sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla just until combined. Stir in flour mixture in two batches until just combined.Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 15 minutes, rotating halfway through. Toothpick inserted in center should come out with a few crumbs attached.For glaze: Meanwhile, place butterscotch chips in small bowl. In small saucepan, combine brown sugar, water and salt and bring to simmer over medium-high heat. Pour hot liquid mixture over chips and whisk until smooth.While bars are still warm in pan, drizzle glaze over bars. Allow bars to cool in pan on wire rack until completely cool, about two hours.When cool, remove bars from pan and cut into little squares.Note: You can use quick-cooking oats for crisper squares. I used about 1/8 cup quick-cooking, which is all I had on hand, and filled the rest of the cup with old-fashioned.