Salted Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies

There’s one cookie that reminds me of Dallas in the 1970s. These chewy oatmeal cookies are mixed with caramel butter scotch chips. When I was young, these plates were seen at friends’ houses, at baked goods and at pool parties. However, these butterscotch oatmeal cookies have been rare recently in my life. It’s time to revisit this classic.

Now, to make the butterscotch candy, heat the butter in brown sugar until it melts and thickens. This process is the same as the production of caramel candies, with the only difference being that caramel uses grain sugar instead.

Butter in the name of candy makes sense because it is an important ingredient. Needless to say, the flavor is as lush and creamy as butter. However, the scotch portion of that name is not a reference to alcohol, but a reference to the cooking process. The use of scotch in the name is similar to the term scotch.

Butterscotch candies are not heat-stable, so if you want to include them in cookies, for example, they will blend in with the dough as you bake. Still tasty, but not the same as having an evenly soft and smooth mound throughout the pastry.

To solve this problem, in the late 1950s, chocolate company Nestle introduced the world to a bite (or chip) of butterscotch for baking. The chips were dark tan in hue and the flavor was like burnt caramel. The ingredients contained stabilizers that allowed the chips to maintain the foam when they were baked.

To demonstrate how to use this new ingredient to bakers, the company printed a recipe for oatmeal butterscotch cookies (also known as oatmeal scotch) on the packaging. The simple oatmeal cookie base was a heartfelt platform for a rich, creamy butterscotch bite.

The butterscotch chips are a recent addition to the American Desert Cannon, but are still classics. When I saw the original recipe, I didn’t think there was much need to improve on what was already accepted.

Initially, I tried to refine the batch more by browning the butter and toasting the oats before preparing the dough. However, these decorations were not an upgrade to the simplicity of the original.

Instead, I increased the amount of brown sugar on granulated sugar, as it is one of the cornerstones of classic butterscotch. We also added cinnamon for warmth and depth. And to finish off, each cookie was sprinkled with flaked sea salt to balance out the sweetness of the butterscotch.