The Puzzle Continues

The last six or seven months have been some of the worst of my life as far as health goes. UTIs, the flu, surgery on my eyes, amoebic dysentery have all played their part. Yesterday I had a colonoscopy as a method to help discern more pieces of the puzzle of my GI troubles. No results yet but I suspect that there will be changes coming up, some of them dietary. Might mean going gluten free. Might mean giving up nuts and seeds or dairy or maybe just fatty foods. Still thinking about it, but I might continue to bake with gluten and just not eat it myself...more for Sweetie, friends, firefighters, etc.

Earlier in the week I baked one of my favorite cookies, butterscotch bar cookies. No puzzle this time. I love the butterscotch flavor, the cake type crumb and the addition of chocolate and fruit. It makes a big pan of cookies, with plenty to share. This time  I substituted white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips and put in fresh pitted, chopped dark sweet cherries instead of the nuts. These cookies were yummy, but next time (if there is one) I think I would reduce the brown sugar to 3/4 cup and use white sugar for the additional sugar needed so there would be a bit less of the butterscotch flavor. Still, a delicious cookie and made in one pot, so hardly any washing up, especially if you line the cookie sheet with heavy aluminum foil like I did! Do be sure to check often at the end of baking. I left mine in the oven a tad too long and they do get dry.

Chocolate-Butterscotch Bars or Squares

Makes 40 squares - not sure how many bars

2/3 cup butter, margarine, or vegetable shortening, melted

1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

6 oz chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped, pitted fresh cherries 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter in a large pot. Add the sugar. Mix melted butter and sugar thoroughly. Let cool a bit. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted dry ingredients, white chocolate, cherries and vanilla and mix well to combine. Spread in a greased 15" x 10" x 1" pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F) for about 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in center of pan will come out with a few crumbs stuck to it.

Cut into 40 squares (or some bars if you prefer) while warm. Store in airtight container. Will keep a week if you don't eat them all long before that as I do.