What heat wave?

It's a million degrees outside but I've been wanting to bake something all week and it's a long weekend and WHY NOT. A friend posted pictures of blondies she made a bit ago so that was in my head, and I figured I'd try the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which is, by the way, my favorite food blog - interesting but not fussy, the right level (for me) of narrative chattiness without making me say "just get to the recipe already," and - most importantly - every recipe of hers I've tried has WORKED. This one was no exception!

This recipe may be the platonic ideal of a certain kind of workaday baking for me - all ingredients I keep on hand anyway; lots of options for variations (this time I added scotch - yes, that's a listed option! - and pecans and semi-sweet chocolate chips I had sitting leftover in the fridge); comfortingly elemental measurements - a stick of butter, a cup of sugar, an egg; one bowl; easy to mix by hand if you don't want to lug out the mixer; no fancy finishing or decorating. And - by the way - DELICIOUS. Go make some blondies!