While these darling butterscotch cookies aren't your tried and tired as hell oatmeal scotcheroos, they are still all notes of butterscotch through and through. I used to think that I didn't like butterscotch. I was absolutely convinced of it. It just wasn't my thing.
Until scotcheroo ice cream came home with me. What can I say? It was 2020, I was pandemic sweets shopping, and choices were thin on the ground. Here was an ice cream with a butterscotch flavor, bits of oatmeal cookie, some kind of ripple, and dark chocolate chips. Then I got it home and tried it a day or two later. With all the pandemic baking, I lost track until I had my cohort in dessert at home. With mom in residence, ice cream is a must.
We popped the top on that carton and instantly I was transported. Long Minnesota winters with iffin' cookies, mugs of hot cocoa, and snow piling up on the ground. Christmas tree decorating and bad Elvis Presley Christmas music that's equal parts nostalgia and cringe worthy. I was a kid again, then a bookish teen, finally a college student stuck in the dorms and grateful for the homemade care package that brought my ragtag circles of friends together for a bit of holiday cheer and of course..... cookies.
How could I have summarily dismissed butterscotch all these years? Fast forward to life mere months before covid and me finally making friends with the most awesome person in the world. My new bestie opened my eyes to more butterscotch delights - and has a daughter as head over butterscotch heels as I am.
A happy bonus? She knows how to get to the Amish grocery store!! Why is this exciting?? They have.....mini butterscotch chips. And butterscotch extract! Score!!! Yes, I used butterscotch, Amish, and score in one paragraph. Welcome to thrifty middle age where cheap baking supplies, mini chips, and great snacks are the highlights in life - and making a new friend is a huge deal.
So, tonight while bestie's butterscotch loving daughter is here, butterscotch cookies are definitely on the menu. Here is what I came up with:
1 C. Butter
1 C. dark brown sugar
1 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 T. milk
2 T. molasses
2 tsp. each vanilla and butterscotch extract
1/2 C. oats
1 tsp. each baking powder and baking soda
3 1/2 C. flour
1 1/2 C. mini butterscotch chips
1/2 C. each pecans and dark chocolate chips
Directions:
Cream together butter and sugars over low speed for 2-3 minutes. Add in eggs, milk, extracts, and molasses and mix for 3-5 minutes. Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and oats, and mix until almost combined. Add in all remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Chill for 1 hour to overnight.
Bake on parchment at 350F for 15-17 minutes for a large cookie, bake for 11-12 minutes for a small cookie.
