I picked this recipe to adapt because while it looked solid, it called for a 9-inch square pan which is not the standard in the US and I was curious if they would end up being more like brownies like the name or blondies, which the ingredients suggest.
I think they are definitely blondies–butterscotch forms the base and while they have the crackly top of a brownie and are chewy, blondies can have that too. If we wanted brownies, I think you need to add some cocoa to the batter.
The basic recipe was solid, my husband did the actual baking and found it was easier to mix the butterscotch butter mixture in a curved bowl than in the pan and that it cooled down faster that way. It clearly needed more vanilla. If she actually made these in a 9-inch pan they must have been very, very flat because they were flat (not in a bad way but on the thin side for a brownie or blondie) in the 8×8-inch which, proportionally, is quite a bit ( over 25%!) smaller.
Oddly I felt like the marshmallows didn’t disappear as much as I expected. While they lost their shape, they did contribute a distinctive marshmallow chew, a flash of white and flavor. I’ve created recipes for other brownies with marshmallows where they really did disappear. I was fine with them not disappearing though, these really were some fun, if very sweet blondies with a nice chew and pops of chocolate.
We left out the nuts from the original because I didn’t feel like they needed it. Were nuts much cheaper years ago? So many recipes call for small amounts of nuts that I don’t feel add much to the recipe and but if included would turn a pretty budget and pantry-friendly dessert into a much pricier one.
Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies (Blondies)
Ingredients
- ½ cup butterscotch chips
- ¼ cup butter
- ¾ cup flour
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup miniature marshmallows
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Butter 8×8-inch baking dish and set aside.
- In small pan, melt together the butterscotch chips and the butter, stirring constantly, until melted. Pour into a large bowl. Allow to cool to close to room temperature (lukewarm) then stir in the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, vanilla, and egg (make sure the egg is added last to avoid it being heated by the butterscotch mixture) until well mixed and uniform. Fold in the marshmallows and chips.
- Scrape into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until most of the pan looks dry and golden and the absolute center area looks just slightly underbaked.
- Cool completely, in pan, on a wire rack.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
This recipe was adapted and updated from Ann Edie’s Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies published in First Church Fare compiled by First Presbyterian Church, Bel Air, Maryland 1990
