Anything but basic, these dense and chewy blondies can be customized to your liking! This version is studded with gooey, chocolatey caramel.

So today was a rough day for blogging. I originally had plans to post a recipe for cinnamon bread, but when I baked it over the weekend, I decided it hadn’t turned out “pretty” enough for a photo shoot. So I gave one loaf away and my family happily began whittling away at the rest, and I resolved to revisit that recipe another day with hopes for a more photogenic swirl of cinnamon.

Plan B was to bake a special twist on apple pie. I’ve actually been baking this particular pie for years and did a test run last week. But again, at the time I decided that the pie needed to be a little bit taller to photograph well. So once more, with no complaints from my family, we chowed down on that apple pie and I had plans to bake it again today, while increasing the apple filling and the super-secret topping for more photogenic results.

Well, for some reason, making those tweaks altered the fundamental chemistry of the recipe, because when I went to cut into my pie, I was shocked to discover apple soup! Has this ever happened to y’all? I need to do some research, but I’m assuming that my extra apples ended up releasing additional moisture, resulting in watery pie (which, incidentally, still tasted great). Again, no argument from my family. They are more than happy to eat my mistakes.

Alas, it was back to the drawing board again for today’s blog post, (which, by this point, almost ended up being tomorrow’s blog post). For this attempt, I went with another classic recipe from my repertoire. I still wanted to jazz it up for y’all, but I kept my fingers crossed in hopes that I wouldn’t end up with another kitchen failure.

Well, the third time was apparently the charm, because these classic blondies, interspersed in this variation with chocolate chips and chewy, gooey chunks of caramel, came out great. Hallelujah and amen.

This blondie recipe is fast, easy, and straightforward to whip up. Its ingredients are simple, but it never disappoints. There is no leavening in this recipe, which means that these bars don’t rise, but therein lies their beauty. You see, they turn out dense, moist, and chewier than your average chocolate chip cookie. And equally exciting…this recipe only dirties one bowl, people! In my mind, that elevates it a notch or five right there.

But what makes this recipe extra fun are all of the variations you can create out of the basic batter. These buttery bars are amazing whether you stud them with a mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips, or M&Ms, or peanut butter chips and chopped peanuts, or white chocolate chips with dried cranberries and toasted pecans, or coconut with macadamia nuts, or in today’s case, chopped up caramel-stuffed chocolates. Honestly, the list of possibilities could go on and on.

But the best part of this week’s kitchen debacles? I — er, we — get to alternate eating these chewy, chocolatey blondies with slices of not-so-attractive cinnamon bread and wedges of (still tasty) waterlogged apple pie. I may be worn out after all of the mishaps, but so long as my kids benefit from the imperfect outcomes, I think that they would argue for as many baking blunders as I care to make.

Fortunately for all of us, these blondies definitely do not fall into the blunder category. But commiserate with me a bit here today. What’s your biggest recipe failure? 😉

Adapted from How to Cook Everything, via Smitten Kitchen

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