Brown Butter Blondies

To prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Spray or butter an 8 x 8 square baking dish and line with parchment, leaving an overhang on two sides of the pan. (this is so you can easily lift them out of the pan later)
3. In large bowl, whisk brown butter with sugars until combined.
4. Add egg, vanilla, and salt and whisk vigorously for about a minute.
5. Switch from whisk to wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and stir to combine. When you have a few streaks of flour remaining, add caramelized white chocolate chunks. Stir to combine.
6. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Wet your hands and gently press dough into an even layer.
7. Place in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. The middle will still be quite soft, but this ensures a gooey, chewy middle once they cool.
8. Remove from oven and let cool completely at room temperature before slicing. You can even stash them in the fridge to get really, really clean slices. *see note below
9. When blondies are completely cool, carefully lift out of the pan using the parchment paper overhangs, place on cutting board, and slice into any size you like. I like to slice them evenly into 9 large squares.
10. Serve with a generous drizzle of Stout Butterscotch Sauce and a sprinkle of flaked sea salt.

*If you want to serve these warm, you won't get clean slices, but you can just messily scoop it from the pan to your serving dishes, top with ice cream and Stout Butterscotch Sauce, add a sprinkle of sea salt or some crushed pretzels, then just lean back, relax, and pat yourself on the back for making something so darn delicious.

Caramelized White Chocolate:

Ingredients:

• 3 bars, about 12 ounces, good quality white chocolate, I use Green & Blacks because I adore the vanilla flecks

To prepare:

1. Preheat oven to 250 F.
2. Break up white chocolate bars in a large glass dish, or on a baking sheet. You can use parchment here, but it is kind of a pain when you're stirring and it's not necessary.
3. Place chocolate in oven for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from oven, and with a rubber spatula, stir chocolate and spread into a thin, even layer before returning to oven.
5. Repeat this process until your chocolate has turned a light golden-tan color. It took mine about 2 hours, but all ovens are different, so just judge by the color.
6. There will be points during this process when you're stirring and the chocolate gets clumpy and you think you've ruined everything. You haven't. Just keep stirring and smoothing the chocolate and it will all come together.
7. After about 2 hours, you will have a golden puddle of caramelized white chocolate.
8. Remove tray from oven and stir for about 3-5 minutes.
9. Transfer chocolate to wax paper or parchment. Smooth into an even layer, as thick or thin as you'd like, and allow to cool until hardened. I left mine overnight.
10. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Brown Butter:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 sticks room temperature butter

To prepare:

1. Place butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Cook until butter melts, foams, and sizzles then the foaming and sizzling subsides. Brush foam to the side and check your color. You want a dark tan/golden color. This whole process takes about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye and use your nose. It will smell nutty and almost like caramel when it's done.
3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. You'll have a little more than the recipe calls for, but I like to plan for a little evaporation. And whatever is left, just put to use anywhere you'd use regular butter: toast, pancakes, waffles, cook some eggs in it, etc.

Stout Butterscotch Sauce:

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces dark stout beer
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons butter

To prepare:

1. Place stout in medium saucepan over high heat. Make sure your pan is big enough, as the beer will bubble and foam up quite a bit.
2. Bring to a boil and allow to reduce by half. This should take about 10 minutes.
3. Carefully pour into a heat safe measuring cup to ensure you have 6 ounces.
4. Pour reduced stout back into saucepan, add sugar and stir to combine. Cook on high for about 10 more minutes without stirring until thick and syrupy and the bubbles become larger.
5. Add cream and stir. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes on medium high heat.
6. Remove from heat and add vanilla, salt, and butter. Stir until all butter is melted and combined.

You should have about 1 ½ cups after it reduces.

Transfer to glass jar and allow to cool. It will thicken more as it cools.