Ovaltine Blondies

I have been in a bit of a capital-F Funk recently. I can only blame the February doldrums. Perhaps I was too bold in talking about how great a year 2025 was, and I needed to be humbled. There’s been the big things. As in, we started the year with Minneapolis being the most politically-charged center of national news for a month. As soon as that was over, my family started sending articles about how AI is going to bring about the end of the world in the group chat. And then there’s been the little things, like how there’s been a lack of new (good) movies in the theaters. My work from home routine is boring. My sourdough starter has not been thriving.

The other day, I experimented with a new baking idea and it was a total flop. I literally threw it out because it wasn’t good. I hate doing that!! It didn’t help the funk!! And that was after I baked a loaf of bread over the weekend that was Just Okay but not good enough to post. Flop after flop!

So I decided to fall back on something I figured couldn’t go poorly. Ovaltine blondies with a bunch of candy mixed in. I’d never made them before, but a quick look at the ingredients list confirmed… there was no way it was going to be bad.

It also cleaned out four half-full bags of mix-ins from my pantry, and made a dent in the Ovaltine.

Ovaltine makes these almost seem like brownies, but the malted chocolate of it isn’t quite the chocolate of brownies. I do wonder what this recipe would be like with a buttermilk powder or something. I’ll experiment more when I have room in my pantry.

I added in maple chips, butterscotch chips, toffee bits, and M&Ms. It’s a bit of an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink situation, but I think it all works. And I just chose those because it’s what I had on hand. I think this could be good with a lot of things mixed in. Or just simple chocolate chips!

I’m not totally sure what to do about the Funk. I think I’ll just have to wait it out. Bake my way out of it. Book my hotels for my Europe trip. Read instead of going to the movies.

And I can be glad this Funk is not as bad as the pandemic Funk that led me to give up coffee just to feel something. And drove me to start talking in an Italian accent for a week. And coming up with my Pandemic Anthem “Every day the same, the same day every day.” It’s not that bad.

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