This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday selection was chosen by Pamela of Cookies with Boys: butterscotch almond and walnut bars. I’m actually not a fan of butterscotch, but I knew I’d be able to give these bars away so I was happy to participate. The recipe as written actually calls for cashews but I didn’t have any on hand so, as you can see, I substituted a combination of almonds and walnuts.
One of the best things about this recipe is how few ingredients it requires. It combines a shortbread crust (4 ingredients), butterscotch caramel layer (3 ingredients) and then roasted nuts to top the bars. The shortbread crust is prebaked first – mine puffed up a bit in the oven despite poking a ton of holes in it but as it cooled it settled down fairly evenly. The butterscotch caramel layer comes together in a saucepan in just a few minutes and is poured over the prebaked crust. It’s fairly gooey, but spread across the shortbread crust easily for me. I threw the roasted almonds and walnuts on top, stuck it back in the oven for a few minutes and I was done. Simple!
We were heading out to lunch yesterday and I was bringing a few of the bars with me to give away. They had only been out of the oven for a bit and cutting them was challenging as they were quite gooey. (They also “melted” a bit in the warm car on the way to lunch but hopefully they still tasted just as good!) Thanks to a recommendation from my friend Wendy of Pink Stripes, I knew it’d be easier to cut the remaining bars if I chilled them first so that’s exactly what I did. I definitely agree with Wendy – once chilled, the bars were easy to cut with a bread knife!
I didn’t try one of the bars since I knew I wouldn’t like the butterscotch, but I did taste a few pieces of the shortbread crust that broke off as I cut the bars and thought it was fantastic! I can absolutely see using this crust and topping it with a layer of chocolate for a variation on these bars. Thanks to Pamela for a fun selection this week! You can find the recipe on her blog and you can check out the other bars this week at the SMS site.
Lemon Bars
Glazed Grapefruit Cake
Orange Sherbet
Meyer Lemon Pound Cake
Those look so yummy! I’m not a huge fan of butterscotch either, but they look fantastic.
Wow – this is making me wish I actually participated. They look great!
I love the addition of walnuts, yummy!
Katie xox
Those look SO SO SO good!!!!
Thanks for baking along with me this week, even though you don’t like butterscotch! I love the look of the nuts on there! My crust didn’t end up looking like yours, but I still really enjoyed this one! Seriously, they look AMAZING!
They look so good. I love how this recipe works well with whatever you have on hand. I’m sure that the walnuts and almonds were seriously delicious with the butterscotch.
Ymmmm i loved the shortbread crust too! And like you, I’m not a big butterscotch fan. I subbed in caramel! Yours with Almonds and Walnuts looks FAB!
Great looking bars! I thought this recipe was so easy and so tasty! Im glad you liked them too!
Love all the different nuts on top! 🙂 Great pictures!
Yours looks great, as always.
I just let them sit out overnight. They were easy to cut but still very gooey.
Wow! Your bars look just perfect. Great job!
Tracey, you are a baking goddess.
I’m not normally a huge butterscotch fan either, but these look seriously amazing!
ooohhhh….you could have given them away to me!! They look great.
My husband and I do casual catering in the summer and always bring dessert for the pool partie.
Thanks for your wonderful butterscothch almond and walnut Bars. Perfect Yummy!
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Your bars look great. I was considering substituting almonds for the cashews. I’m glad it worked out for you. I will have to do a rewind on this one.
Your bars look beautiful with the combination of almonds and walnuts!
Your bars look great! I need to learn to be more frugal like you…I didn’t have cashews either, but went to the store to buy them. I have a ton of other types of nuts I could have used. Next time!
Well, those look just delicious!
Your crust looks so perfect! I think I would really like the almonds and walnuts- I’ll have to try it next time.
Yours look fantastic, this confirms my crust was a little burnt. As I made them, I also thought what a brilliant idea a brown sugar shortbread is, it would definitely be fun to play around with different flavors.
looks great, good sub with roasted almonds!
Tracey, those bars were sooo good! I was looking forward to another one when I got home from work today but Rick ended up taking the rest in to HIS work. I was so disappointed! Yum! Thanks!
Another home run! I was specifically told to pass along the compliments from work. Awesome Butterscotch flavor, and way to go “winging it” on the nut selection. Great snack!
I’m with you on the butterscotch. Not a huge fan either but I will be trying these with chocolate soon because the shortbread was excellent.
Not the biggest butterscotch fan either, but LOVE nuts. The bars look great. I like caramel a lot more than butterscotch. I think these would be even better with drizzled chocolate. Ooh. 😉
Hi Tracey!
So glad you decided to bake this week even though you’re not a big fan of butterscotch. Great idea to use a combo of nuts- I bet it gave the bars added dimension and interest.
Thanks so much for stopping by my site- I’m still trying to learn ways of personalizing it and sprucing up the look. Please let me know if your husband’s cousin ever feels like playing around with another food blog and making it as FABULOUS as yours! I just LOVE the look of “Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.” I’d appreciate any help I could get 😉
So I don’t know about you, but I am DONE with this weather. Oy, it is so gross… I feel like singing “Rain, rain, go away!” I hope the sun comes out in RI (and MA) soon! Can’t wait to talk to you again after next Sunday’s recipe. Have a wonderful rest of your week!
-Joy