White Butterscotch Wine Bars

I was reading a blog this morning and saw a recipe I wanted to try. It’s one from Mix and Match Mama that she called Butterscotch Beer Bars. I didn’t have any beer open in the house, but I *did* have some Boordy Vineyards Rockfish, a lovely dry white wine that’s made with a blend of Pinot Gris, Albariño, and Seyval Blanc… would that work in this recipe? I decided it was worth trying and began pulling things together.
NOTE: These directions are originally written by Mix and Match Mama but I included my own adjustments and/or changes along the way. I’m sure I’ll be trying her original recipe with Samuel Adams’ Boston Lager soon!

My mise en place, ready to experiment with a recipe using wine

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup + 1 T dry white wine (save 1T for frosting)
  • 1 8oz package of softened cream cheese
  • 2 cups powdered sugar (I used 2 1/4 cups)

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350*
  • Grease a 9×13 baking dish – I lined a 9×13 pan with nonstick foil instead, so I’d be able to more easily transfer the bars out of the pan for frosting later.
  • In a microwaveable bowl, melt butter and butterscotch chips together, stopping to stir every 30 seconds. Once melted, set aside to cool slightly.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with sugar. Once these are well-incorporated, beat in your melted butter/butterscotch mixture and beat well.
  • Add salt to the flour and slowly add into your batter, beating well.
  • Mix in your 1/2 cup wine (I put my mixer on low speed and drizzled it into the batter) just until it’s incorporated.
  • Pour mixture into your prepared baking dish and bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Note: Mine took closer to 35 minutes but the original recipe called for 25-30 min.
  • Remove pan from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
  • To make frosting, beat soften cream cheese with powdered sugar and 1T wine with an electric mixer. I needed to add the extra 1/4 cup of powdered sugar so it wasn’t too thin. Mix and Match Mama says you can substitute milk for the alcohol if you prefer.
  • Frost your bars, cut and serve. NOTE: I cut mine into smaller squares and was able to get 32 individual servings (or 16 double-piece servings).
  • Store these in the fridge or freezer.
Adding some Boordy Vineyards Rockfish to the frosting
A lovely little treat… with wine.

My thoughts? I really liked the taste of this bar. It’s dense enough to be called a bar, but lends itself closer to a cake than a cookie. I will need to try this recipe as it’s intended (with beer) but I thought this version was a fun way to use up some of the wine that I find in my fridge from time to time. The recipe didn’t take long to make and came together easily.

I would highly recommend using non-stick foil. It was very easy to remove from the pan, frost, and then place the entire recipe on a baking sheet to pop in the freezer. Once frozen, I will be able to transfer these treats into baggies for gifting later.

Enjoy!

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Tuscan-style sauce

Oh, my goodness…. this sauce is so delicious! A friend recently mentioned a crock pot dinner that she’d made that sounded good, but I didn’t want to use my crock pot. I got the basics of the recipe from her, looked at a few other recipes, and went to “work”.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 TBSP butter
  • 1/3 cup half & half (fat-free is fine)
  • 2-3 forks of julienned sun dried tomatoes *I like to add a spoonful of the oil to this sauce as well
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 TBSP Parmesan
  • 1 wedge Laughing Cow light cheese
  • 1-2 T white wine (I used Boordy Vineyards Vidal Blanc)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Pasta water, as needed/if available, to thin or extend sauce

DIRECTIONS:

  • In a heavy sauce pan, simmer butter with half & half until butter melts.
  • Add sun dried tomato and fresh spinach, stir and allow spinach time to wilt.
  • Add Parmesan and Laughing Cow, stir to combine and allow the flavors to meld.
  • Add wine, salt & pepper, then taste sauce, adjusting flavors as needed. Add pasta water, if needed.

I typically spoon this sauce over baked chicken, pasta, and broccoli, as seen in the photo. I’ve also served this sauce over shrimp. It’s a delicious addition to enhance that plain chicken and vegetable dinner. It doesn’t take long to make this sauce and makes for a beautiful dinner plate!

Blueberry Lemon Scones

I got to play in the kitchen today…. and chose to experiment with a scone recipe that uses my favorite @JiffyMixes baking mix. Jiffy mix has been made by the Chelsea Milling Company, a family-owned business started in 1901. Since we lived in Chelsea, MI for a number of years, I love to use this product for biscuits, scones, pancakes, or even fried chicken… it’s so versatile. Here’s a photo of the box – look for it in the baking aisle of your local grocery store.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cups Jiffy Mix
  • 3 TBSP sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp lemon zest (I use the zest of one lemon)
  • 1/2 heaping cup blueberries, if using frozen, don’t thaw (I use 1 handful of blueberries)
  • 1 egg
  • 3 TBSP liquid (I used a mixture of half almond milk, half @BoordyVineyards white wine)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 375* F
  • In a large bowl, blend Jiffy Mix, sugar, egg, liquids, and vanilla. Add zest and berries and mix thoroughly, but gently.
  • Lay a piece of parchment on cookie sheet and scoop out dough into small scones. I use a medium size cookie scoop and lightly press the dough down to flatten slightly. I like to lightly dust dough with sugar before baking
  • Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until edges begin to brown.
  • Let cool for at least 5 minutes before drizzling with glaze.

If you choose, you can drizzle the scones with a simple glaze made with the juice of one lemon and confectioner’s sugar. In this case, I also added a dash of salt and a splash of fat-free half and half. This is all personal preference, but I think it makes the scones look delicious!

I’ve made this recipe using a lot of different blends of add-ins such as dehydrated raspberries with cocoa nibs and orange zest with mini chocolate chips. The basic recipe isn’t difficult and doesn’t take a huge time commitment, which makes it a winner in my book.

I hope you’ll try this recipe and let me know what different combinations you’ve found to be delicious as well.