Butterscotch Bars – Gluten-Free
“Yum!” I heard as I was setting up a photo of the Butterscotch Bars I’d just baked. I turned around to see my husband grabbing a whole handful of them from the pan as he was finishing his first mouthful. He’s usually not so interested in my gluten-free cookies, but these really were outstanding.
So often it’s the simpler recipes that are best. This gluten-free recipe for bars is like that. Tender, chewy – with the delicate flavor of butter and brown sugar and vanilla.
Butterscotch Bars -- Gluten-Free
Bars are versatile, stackable, packable, convenient…and they’re also easier to make than cookies. Spread them in a pan, bake them and cut them into squares. Then watch out for hungry snackers!
Butterscotch Bars – Gluten-Free
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar, Packed
1/4 Cup Butter, softened
2 Egg Whites, large
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1-1/4 Cups Gluten-free Flour Mix (if using a mix, check ingredients for baking powder, salt and xanthan gum – if so, don’t add more)
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum
Cooking Oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking oil.
In small mixing bowl, beat sugars and butter at medium speed until well-blended (4-5 minutes).
Add egg whites and vanilla; beat well.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum; mix well.
Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended.
Spread batter evenly in prepared 8-inch square baking pan.
Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until top is lightly browned and center is done.
Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Cut into 16 pieces.
These bars are gluten-free (no wheat, barley or rye) and nut-free. This is an adaptation of a recipe from Cooking Light.
Linked to:
-Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free’s Slightly Indulgent Tuesday
-The Gluten-Free Homemaker’s Gluten-Free Wednesdays
- Miz Helen’s Country Cottage’s Full Plate Thursday
- The Whole Gang’s Real Food Weekly
- The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Thursday
Yum! These would be easy to make dairy free with a butter substitute. Thanks for participating in the dessert bar challenge.
Yes, I think they would–let me know if you try it.
Hi Pat,
When the Hubby grabs the goodies we know they are good. Butterscotch is one of our favorite flavors and would be great in a bar. Your recipe looks really delicious. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week! Have a wonderful week end!
Your recipe does not call for any xanthan gum….is that a mistake, or do they turn out fine without it?
Michelle –
The gluten-free flour mix I used was Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Baking Mix. It has some xanthan gum in it, as well as white rice flour and garbanzo bean flour. I didn’t add the extra baking powder or salt, either, since those were also in the BRM mix. The bars had a good, chewy texture.
I should have listed xanthan gum as an optional ingredient with the baking powder and salt. Thanks for pointing that out to me!
Many times with baked goods I leave out the xanthan gum and don’t miss it — although I do use it with good results sometimes, like these bars. Next time I might try a different flour mix on these, without any xanthan, to see how they turn out. I’d love to know if you try them, what your results are.
i made the recipe with better batter pre mix -it never got done on the inside and the outside was brown-any tips
Lisa, I have not used Better Batter so I can’t say for sure, but since Better Batter has xanthan gum in it, I hope you did not add any extra with your ingredients — that might have made the bars more gooey in the center. They are supposed to be slightly chewy, but not gooey. Another possibility is if your oven controls run a little hot, the bars may have baked a little fast, giving them a brown color on the outside before they were quite done inside. I hope that helps.
If you try them again, let me know how they turn out and what you did differently.