Kitchen Creativity

In college, my friend Jess always used to whip up crazy things in the kitchen. We'd be sitting around watching TV or procrastinating doing our homework and Jess would suddenly be in the kitchen making a mess. She'd throw together flour and chocolate chips with fluff and cream and voila! A dessert fit for a college student. Now don't get me wrong, Jess knows how to follow a recipe and makes some damn good desserts but her 'concoctions' were always the most eye catching.

Last week I was home after work and itching for something sweet. I didn't have enough energy to whip up an entire batch of cookies or cupcakes but I did have a few ingredients on hand that I could work with. I thought back to Jess and the ease at which she put things together and decided to give it a try. Using smitten kitchen's recipe as a springboard I went to work.



I added a few extra things, substituted here and there but let me tell you the one thing that I added that changed my life: one mashed banana. These blondies turned out to be a mix of cakey chocolate love and banana bread goodness. I am not ashamed to admit that over the course of seven days I ate all of them (granted it was a half batch--granted I need to add that in because I'm headed to the gym and I need to feel good about my life choices) I didn't bring them to work to share with friends like I normally would because they were so delicious I needed them for myself.

I'm glad I had a friend like Jess who, in many ways, showed me that its okay to live your life NOT according to the recipe card.