Cubicle kitchen: Owl Blondies

First of all, I want to give a congratulatory shout-out to myself and all of the bloggers who participated in the 5th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week.  A particular shoutout to Eskimimi Makes for putting it all together.  I had a lot of fun, and it's really making me think about the possibilities for blending a little more fiction (and composed non-fiction) into my blog.  And, of course, it has me remembering all of the craft promises I've been making to myself and my stash.  Hopefully I'll be fulfilling them soon.

Second of all, I've been doing a little spring cleaning around my room, and speaking of stashes...I have collected a lot of magazines over the years.  I fulfilled my role as a stereotypical teenage girl and consumed my fair share of magazines.  And then I saved them all (fashion, beauty, fitness, even home and gardening!) for the purposes of collage.  Except I haven't found the time to do a lot of the application of the images to paper.  Maybe that should be one of my goals, to tear apart a magazine and toss the remnants regularly.  Just what I need, another goal.

Third of all, the reason for this post: a recipe!  I'm a firm believer in the melted ice cream cake, but this was my first time making melted ice cream blondies.  I'm happy to report that it works just as well.  I had two pints of Ben & Jerry's that each had just enough left in them to replace the butter in these blondies.  Because the flavors were peanut butter-y, I threw in some chopped nuts, which I also had on hand in my just-enough-to-bake-with inventory.

I guess what magazines used to be to me, baking accessories now are, because I could not resist this owl pan.  Except that unlike the magazine collages, these blondes actually did get made.  And eaten.

Owl Blondies
Adapted from smitten kitchen: blondes, infinitely adaptable
Makes a dozen

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup melted ice cream*
• 1 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, mixed (optional)
• 1/8-1/4 cup powdered sugar
• a handful of M&Ms

*I used a mix of Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Jam Session and Banana Peanut Butter Greek Frozen Yogurt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, mix together melted ice cream and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla, mix until combined.  Finally, mix in nuts.
3. Prepare owl pan by coating with non-stick spray.  Fill each well about 3/4 full.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes, until middle is set and edges are golden.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before carefully removing from pan and transferring to wire rack.
5. In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar with just enough water to create a glaze.
6. Using a fork, drizzle a dot of glaze onto the eyes of each owl and press an M&M in place.  Then, place another dot on top of the M&M.
7. Drizzle glaze over owls to highlight beak, feet, and a zig-zag of feathers.