Miso Butterscotch Bars

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 vanilla bean (scraped)
• 1 tablespoon (heaping) light yellow or blonde miso paste
• 1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Scotch or bourbon (the smokier the better)
• 1/4 cup coarsely ground Marcona almonds (or toasted blanched almonds)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur brand)
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 teaspoon or so smoked or regular flaked sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350u0b0 F and butter a 9x13-inch baking pan.
2. Put butter, vanilla bean, and miso paste over a low flame to brown. rnrn(This takes a while. To give an idea of what a while means: During this time I got all my other ingredients measured out, then I swept my kitchen, then I vacuumed the bathroom because I have cats, then I remembered reading that Kerry Washington gives all her friends Dyson Vacuums as presents, and just as I was imagining being friends with Kerry Washington and talking to her about my amazing new vacuum, that's when my kitchen suddenly smelled like nutty deliciousness and the butter had browned.)
3. Add the brown sugar to the warm butter and stir around to combine
4. Scrape the mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and, using a paddle attachment on medium speed, mix it around for a few minutes until it lightens in color.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, pausing in between each addition to allow them to fully incorporate. (I wish I knew why this is good but I don't, probably something to do with air.)
6. Add the vinegar and the scotch and get them all mixed in. rnrn(Vinegar and scotch sounds like it probably was a cure for something like an earache or an amputated arm in Scotland sometime around 1750: "Aye Lass, just warm a wee dram of Vinegare and a punt a Scotch whiskey in a sheep bladder 'til warm as 'twas a living thing." OOPS I digress again, but wasn't it just Robbie Burns Night or something?)
7. Whisk the almonds, baking powder, and salt into the whole-wheat flour. Lower the speed of your mixer to like 1 (I cannot tell you how important this is, but I can show you a picture of the bit of cocoa powder on my wall that I could only reach enough to make an ugly smear) and add the dry ingredients in about 3 to 4 batches, pausing to incorporate each time (again, why mess with a good thing?).
8. Give a few more mixes on medium speed to fully incorporate. At this point, you can mix in the butterscotch chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top with a offset spatula OR you can make a butterscotch top (see the second to last step).
9. Bake until it just pulls away from the pan, still a bit sticky-wicky in the center. Editors' note: We started checking the bars around 30 minutes.
10. Sprinkle the chips (if using) over the warm lusciousness and spread so as to make a glaze-ish topping, then sprinkle with salt. You could also use very dark chocolate in place of butterscotch chips, because who knows what's really in those things... someone should make nice ones without chemicals.
11. Let cool, then cut into neat squares with a knife set in hot water. I know it's hard to wait because the whole house smells like butterscotch, and lord knows you could have already gotten into the scotch, you naughty kitty you, also not much is better than hot gooey cake...and if you don't care about nice pretty edges, get a bowl and a spoon and some vanilla ice cream or some barely sweetened whipped cream and go nuts! Here's a secret: You can do that with a part of it and let the other part cool so that you can cut it into nice squares-no one ever has to know you a had a warm butterscotch party in your mouth.

butter, vanilla bean, light yellow, brown sugar, eggs, apple cider vinegar, scotch, almonds, baking powder, salt, flour, butterscotch chips, salt

Taken from food52.com/recipes/26465-miso-butterscotch-bars (may not work)