Having had a few discussions on the origin of the word and flavor "butterscotch", I have come to no solid conclusions. I had some butterscotch chips to use and considered making a bar cookie (butterscotch cashew bars) that I once made years ago while living in Iceland — unfortunately the recipe called for corn syrup (I have neither corn syrup nor vit sirap, which I often use as a substitute). I decided to make a butterscotch cashew cookie that is more in line with a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. It seems people liked them, but I am not sure that I will make them again (first and foremost because butterscotch chips are not readily available here). Something I would do differently if I do make them again — I will use roasted, salted cashews for the mix of sweet and salty. I only had raw, unsalted cashews on hand, and while they changed the texture of the cookie, they did not add much in the way of flavor, according to my reliable taste testers. Raw cashews do not have a very strong or distinctive flavor (hence their use in a lot of other products in which cashews are a substitute for something else thanks to their mildness).

Recipe
Butterscotch cashew cookies
2 ¼ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (I omitted because I used salted butter)
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
1 cup cashews (roasted and salted would be best here)

Preheat oven to 350F/175-180C. Beat butter, both kinds of sugar and vanilla together. Add eggs. Gradually add in the dry ingredients. Then add the butterscotch chips and cashews (I added a mix of whole cashews and coarsely chopped cashews).

Drop by teaspoons (or form balls of dough) onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 9-12 minutes or until golden.