Cake Batter Blondies

I'm totally popular.

Like, for real. 

So a girl I work with had a little birthday hoorah this past weekend (at a crazy cool mexican restaurant in Fort Worth- if you're ever in the area and craving fajitas- GO! for the atmosphere if nothing else), and being the baker I am, I refused to show up empty handed.  I initially had something else in mind, but the gorgeous weather had me planting flowers instead and before I knew it, it was 7 o'clock at night and the oven wasn't even preheated.  Shame.  So....Plan B: confetti cake blondies.  Because no birthday is truly complete without chocolate and sprinkles.

As I walked into the restaurant and plopped my tupperware down on the table, the oohs and ahhs began and the fingers started reaching.  These guys were demolished in no time.  Luckily, I planned ahead and saved a few at home for Nathan and me, but when I went in to work on Monday, a coworker mentioned he needed another one...bad.  Well, I'm a sucker for compliments, so I made sure to dive into our stash, wrap one up, and bring it the next day.  Unfortunately for the receiver, two other employees spotted me with it and the three of them had to share.  I think I heard the words "incredible brownie" uttered roughly fourteen times that day.

I'm like, totally serious.

Cake Batter Blondies

Makes one 7x11-inch pan

1 box yellow cake mix

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

1/3 -1/2 cup milk (I used almost 1/2 cup-- maybe 7 tablespoons total)

1/2 cup sprinkles

1/2 cup chocolate chips (can use white chocolate too/instead!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 11x7 baking pan with nonstick spray. Combine first four ingredients in a large bowl, adding the milk slowly. You want to cake batter to be as dense and thick as possible. Mix in the sprinkles and chocolate chips. Pour into prepared baking pan, sprinkle a few more sprinkles on top (and chocolate chips, if you desire!), and bake for 25-30 minutes until edges are just turning brown (I stopped at 25*). Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes so the center sets, before cutting into squares.

*The blondies will look like they are not fully done because the center will be quite gooey, but that’s what you want! After about 30 minutes of cooling, they will be easy to cut using a serrated knife.

*Do not use black sprinkles swirled into the blondies. It will turn the batter black before baking.

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.