If butterscotch morsels have turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use them with confidence and how to choose them, cook them, store them, what to substitute, and 13 recipes to try them in.

What are butterscotch morsels?

Butterscotch morsels are small teardrop chips of butterscotch-flavored confection, the same shape and size as chocolate chips but tinted pale amber. They taste of brown sugar and butter with a soft caramel warmth, sweeter and less complex than chocolate.

Most are made from sugar and partially hydrogenated oil carrying butterscotch and vanilla flavoring, rather than real cream and butter.

That is why they read as candy more than caramel.

They are built to hold their shape through a bake. So they keep their teardrop form inside a cookie, or melt smooth into a coating when you want them to.

How to Use Them

The default job is to fold them whole into a dough or batter, exactly like chocolate chips. They stud cookies, blondies, and bars, where the heat softens them just enough to go gooey without dissolving.

Butterscotch works best against chocolate. Brenda's Brownies leans on that contrast, and the white-chocolate version in Best White Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies plays butterscotch against creamy white chips.

The other big use is melting them into a binder for no-bake candy. Gently melted, the morsels coat dry cereal or chow mein noodles and set into clusters as they cool.

That is the whole trick behind Butterscotch Clusters and No Bake Butterscotch Cookies, and the crunch in Chow Mein Candy Clusters comes from the same melt.

Melt them low and slow. Butterscotch chips scorch faster than chocolate, so use a double boiler or short microwave bursts at half power, stirring between each, until just melted.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Butterscotch wants a partner with some edge to cut its sweetness. It loves toasted pecans and walnuts. Tart apple and bitter dark chocolate both pull it back from cloying, and oats add chew.

The apple pairing carries Butterscotch Apple Crumb Pie, where the morsels melt into the fruit, and chocolate clusters like Choco-Scotch Clusters split the difference between the two.

A pinch of salt or a splash of vanilla in the surrounding dough keeps the chips from tasting one-note. On their own they push hard on sweet.

The mistake that ruins them is overheating. Butterscotch morsels seize into a stiff, grainy lump if they get too hot or catch a drop of water, and once seized they will not smooth back out. Keep the heat gentle and the bowl bone-dry.

If a melt does start to thicken and turn pasty, stir in a teaspoon of shortening or neutral oil to loosen it. Add it a little at a time until the coating flows again.

Substitutes

The closest swap is an equal measure of caramel chips, which melt and bake much the same way with a rounder, less candied flavor.

Toffee bits work too, but they bring crunch and will not melt into a smooth coating.

For baking, a cup of chopped butterscotch hard candy stands in, melting a touch stickier. White chocolate chips give you the creamy color and the melt but lose the brown-sugar note entirely.

To approximate the flavor from scratch, brown butter with brown sugar and a pinch of salt for a butterscotch sauce, then use it where the recipe wants the taste rather than discrete chips.

Buying and Storage

Find butterscotch morsels in the baking aisle next to the chocolate chips, usually in an 11-ounce bag from the same brands. Bags labeled artificially flavored are the standard; a few premium brands use real butter and cream and taste noticeably richer.

Store unopened bags in a cool, dry pantry, where they keep for many months. Check the best-by date, since the fat eventually goes stale and the flavor flattens.

Once opened, press out the air and seal the bag tight.

Like chocolate, the morsels can develop a pale, chalky bloom if they warm up and re-cool. It is harmless and bakes out fine, but looks off in a bowl.

Keep them away from heat and humidity. A pantry that swings warm can soften the chips into a clumped mass, and moisture is what triggers seizing later when you melt them.

For long storage, they freeze well in an airtight bag for up to a year.

Quick facts

In Chinese

奶油糖果的点点滴滴

British (UK) term

Butterscotch morsels

en français

morceaux de caramel

en español

bocados caramelo

Recipes using butterscotch morsels

There are 13 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 13 recipes