Almond Butterscotch Blondies

This my own variation of a recipe from my Betty Crocker's Cookbook (Bridal Edition). One day I was making these and I realized I was out of vanilla. So I used 1/2 teaspoon of pure almond extract, and then sprinkled chopped almonds on top of the batter. They were delicious! Now I make them that way all the time. Here is my version of the recipe.

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 tablespoons milk (I used fat free milk, you can use whatever you have)
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped almonds

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of an 8 inch square pan with butter or cooking spray.
• Melt butter in a 2 quart sauce pan over low heat; remove from heat. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla, almond extract, milk and egg. Stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in pan. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top of batter.
• Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes in pan on wire rack. Cut into 4 rows by 4 rows for 16 blondies. They are 110 calories each.

These are so quick and easy to make because you mix everything up in the same saucepan you melted the butter in. As you can see from the photo, I didn't sprinkle the chopped almonds on top. I didn't have enough almonds, so I just dropped 16 whole almonds on the batter before putting it in the oven. I think they are definitely better with the 1/2 cup chopped almonds though! The nuts get a little toasted on the cut sides and the flavor is better.