Remember when I talked about how I was going to make super complicated cookies for my sister's annual cookie swap? Well, that was before I had any idea that a huge snowstorm would move into NYC the night I'd planned on baking, causing my ceiling to crack and spring a leak! It was actually a pretty minimal issue that was resolved quickly and without too much damage, but nevertheless, I spent a few solid hours blow-drying my couch instead of creaming butter and sugar. I almost gave up entirely on the idea of baking. I could have easily showed up and said "sorry guys, my ceiling was leaking, so I'm just going to eat all of your cookies without contributing anything, k?!" That would have been OK because that's what families do for one another-- offer up cookies without expecting anything in return. But in a last-ditch effort, I figured I'd at least do a Google search to see if anything was doable in the hour I had until it was time to head over to my sister's apartment in Queens.
So I sat, blow dryer pointed at my couch in one hand and phone in the other, and Googled something ridiculous like "the easiest recipe for dessert of all time." By some act of God and great SEO, I landed on this awesome recipe by Inspired Taste. The recipe takes no time at all and uses only one bowl. It's as easy as opening up a box of brownie mix, adding in an egg and some oil, mixing and baking. Except, with this, you can say "from scratch" and not be lying.
The entire process takes about 30 minutes total, including bake time, to impressively tasty results. I'm sure that there are ways I could have thought harder about the recipe-- sifted my flour, bought a fancier butter, doubled the recipe for a "deep dish" blondie effect-- but, really, if it ain't broke....
You will memorize this recipe after one shot, and it will become your new party trick ("Does anybody want.... BLONDIES? BAM!"), I promise. Get the recipe here and, should your ceiling start inexplicably dripping on the biggest baking day of the year, you can thank me.