Brownies. Butterscotch Brownies!

I met Natalie for the first time when her husband came on staff at our church as my youth pastor. It was the summer before my 11th grade year. Trent and Natalie moved to Midland from Sarepta, LA. Which happened to be where Tyler Dodds lived at the time, with his parents, attending high school. Tyler's Dad was the pastor at New Sarepta Baptist Church, where Trent was the youth pastor prior to moving to Midland. Confused yet?

God is very creative.

He is.

I had an embarrassing moment when they first moved... so embarrassing I can't relay it to you.... but it's hilarious. It included my parents and Trent and Natalie, and a conversation. And although my 16 year old self was completely mortified... that instance forever solidified our relationship. Natalie and I hit it off almost instantly, although she probably had a hard time pulling answers to questions and conversation out of my shy facade.

The summer after my 11th grade year... Tyler Dodds' came to visit.

And eventually we fell in love. Ok so it was almost instant... but whatever. There is so much more to that story.

Anyways... bringing this back to brownies. Natalie has always been my hero. She has taught me more than anyone else about hospitality and keeping a home and being a wife and mother without even trying to teach me. She has spoken and displayed being like "Mary" and not like "Martha" (from Luke chapter 10) more to me than anyone else. When I was younger and newly married, I would all but study her when we went to their house to visit (they live in the Dallas area now). My favorite thing about the way she keeps a home, is that she doesn't care if everything is perfect. And yet her house is always cozy, clean, and inviting. And it always smells AMAZING. Which makes for a wonderfully comfortable environment. She is known for her arsenal of desserts that she whips up when we are there. Simple things like Monkey bread, cake cookies, and the FAMOUS butterscotch brownies.

The first time she gave me her recipe, I copied it myself onto a 3x5 card and when we arrived home from Dallas, I all but ran to the kitchen. My brownies turned out HORRIBLY. I am not kidding... we could have used them as hockey pucks. My pride was terribly bruised and had to be healed before I tried again. Every time I made them after that... which was two more times... they turned out exactly the same. Hockey puck, hard as rock brownies. I think we threw them into the duck pond. I think. Or maybe I know. It was healing OK?!

So... when we went to visit the Brown's last month, I demanded an answer. I accused her of sabotaging this young wife... and told her we were supposed to be friends. She gave me the secret. One she thought I always knew but didn't!!

I came home to Midland and made these... perfectly... delicious... wonderful... butterscotch brownies. That don't actually taste like butterscotch at all. Just sugary, buttery heaven.

I'm going to have to revise her recipe from this (my very favorite) New Sarepta, LA Baptist cook book. It's only right. She has sabotaged the whole world.

Side note... our favorite breakfast pizza comes from this cook book. YUM!

Here is the original recipe.

And here is how the directions should read:

Microwave butter and brown sugar TOGETHER (this is the secret that I didn't know!) in a microwave safe bowl until melted. But not cooked. Stir together. In a separate small bowl whisk eggs together. Temper the eggs by adding a little of the hot sugar/butter mixture to the small bowl. You do not want to cook your eggs (I think this was another one of my mistakes. Scrambled eggs in the batter. Sick.). Once the eggs warm a bit, add them plus the vanilla to the sugar and butter. In ANOTHER bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. To the sugar mixture, slowly add the flour mixture, thoroughly combining. Pour batter into a greased 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. This is so very important. If you have a tendency to overbake... set the timer for 22 minutes! Cool in pan... and eat 5 of them at a time.

The world is a better place now.

I love you Natalie.

Bails