Blondies will make things better.

It’s been a bizarre week for me down here in the south.  The snow in Hothlanta (hah!) kept me shut in my apartment for 4 days (though I was still one of the lucky ones who was able to work from home); it wasn’t so bad, just generated a mild case of cabin fever.

The night the snowmageddon began I bashed my head against a new bookcase my father and I were dragging up the stairs to my apartment; it left me with a headache and gash, both of which lasted all week.  I like the bookcase despite that.  If any scars remain, I’ll just tell everyone I got in a fight with a bear.

On Friday I had to take my rat into the vet for a “mass removal” procedure; basically, she had a big ‘ole tumor on her side and they chopped it out.  The good news is that it went very well, the bad news that it cost $150 more than they originally quoted.  Mostly, I’m just glad she’s better.

Saturday I gave my first stab at this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge and failed pretty early-on in its creation.  It was depressing.  No picture here…nobody needs to see the strange globs I created. O.o

So, I woke up this morning, devoid of ideas for the dessert I’d planned to bring to dinner with my parents.  I’d been prepared to bake some boring, every-day chocolate chip cookies when it occurred to me that I had the possible makings for blondies in my pantry.  It was a weird week, and I wanted to do something a little different and a lot soothing.  I remembered a perfect recipe I’d found a few weeks ago on FoodBuzz.  Appropriately, the blog is named Kitchen Heals Soul.

I went through the recipe and my pantry and modified the recipe to make a small pan of super-easy blondies.  Having a rough week?  A brick of blondie and glass of milk will make things okay.

One thing I wish I’d been able to do, and something similar that she includes in Kitchen Heals Soul, is to add a glug of rum into the mix.  I bet that would’ve been tasty. ^_^  Alas, I had no alcohol with me at the time.  Next round of baking!

Feel-Good Blondies Recipe

Adapted from Kitchen Heals Soul.  Yields one 9×9 pan of blondies.

These turn out super-sweet, so be careful you don’t cut them into pieces that are too large!

Ingredients:

• 1 heaping cup flour (don’t level off!)
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toffee chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325, grease/flour a 9×9 pan.
2. Mix butter and brown sugar in a bowl.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
4. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. Mix in chocolate chips and toffee chips.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Consume!