Chewy White Chocolate Butterscotch Bars

Today was a snow day (I guess I should say is...the snow still hasn't stopped), so I turned it into a domestic day as leaving the house to go anywhere seemed entirely out of the question. After doing four loads of laundry and cleaning my entire house, I figured I could reward myself with some baking. During Christmas shopping this past December, I bought myself a cookie calendar on a whim. The price was good considering it's essentially a cookbook with 365 different recipes. Instead of being patient and discovering a new recipe each day, I went through the entire calendar right after I got it and flagged the dates with the must-try recipes. I jumped ahead today all the way to September 18 to make these bars.

Chewy White Chocolate Butterscotch Bars
(adapted from "The Cookie Calendar 2013")

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 ounces white chocolate
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9x13 in pan with parchment paper (helps to remove the bars from the pan after baking). In a small bowl, stir together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In another small bowl, melt the butter and white chocolate in the microwave. (I used the defrost setting for 1 minute at a time, stirring after each minute until the chocolate was fully melted). In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla and the melted chocolate & butter and stir to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients in two additions stirring until just incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the pan and spread with a spatula or back of a spoon into all four corners of the pan. Sprinkle the pecans and chocolate chips over top. Bake for 25 minutes - the edges will be very puffy and just slightly golden. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, grabbing the ends of the parchment paper, left the bars out of the pan and set them on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Here's how the pan looked just before I put them in the oven - kind of like a big cookie.

And this is the finished product. The cookie-like batter expanded and puffed up around the chips and nuts making a dense but fluffy bar.

The accompanying beats have no profound explanation or link to the recipe as I usually try to do. This was a case of me hearing the song on the radio while I was beating the sugar into the eggs. My pick is Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.