Eat This: Pioneer Woman's Knock You Naked Brownies (Lazy Girl Variation)

So, last week for Keno, I made Pioneer Woman's Knock You Naked Brownies.  You can access the recipe here.  I can report that they are, in fact, knock-you-naked good.

I did not use whole caramels like she did, because I was too lazy to unwrap all of those caramels.  Instead, I used Brach's caramel bits, which you should be able to find at your local grocer's, stocked somewhere near the chocolate chips, marshmallows, nuts and other baking mix-ins.  I ballparked the amount of caramel bits.  I also was too lazy to get out my double boiler, so I microwaved the caramel bits and evaporated milk (again, ballparking - after I took the bowl out of the micro and stirred for awhile, the mixture looked too runny so I threw in a few more bits and kept stirring).  Tip to microwaving caramel:  like chocolate chips, you need to take them out of the micro while they are still somewhat firm and distinct and not all of the way melted.  Then you stir and stir and stir and let the residual heat do its thing.

I also used chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips.  Okay, truth be told, I bought the chocolate chips at store #1 and then I remembered that I had to go to store #2, and it's summertime in Texas, so by the time I got home the chocolate chips had melted together a little bit, thus creating chocolate chunks.  Believe me when I tell you that this was a happy accident.  A thin layer of chocolate goodness would have been great, but big chunks of chocolate goodness was even better.

Finally (completing the laziness hat trick), I did not roll out the top layer of brownie batter like Pioneer Woman did.  Nope.  I just threw large globs of batter on top of the caramel and chocolate mess, leaving slight spaces in between the globs.  As a result, you had little ribbons of caramel and stuff running through the top surface of the finished product.  Kind of pretty.  So pretty that I decided not to top them with powdered sugar.

Primarily because I was too lazy to get out the sifter.

This is a tough recipe to screw up, people.  Case in point:  when I mixed together the batter the first time, I omitted the butter.  (This is what happens when you make brownies in your kitchen while simultaneously watching the Miss USA pageant in your den.)  After I spread the batter in the pan the first time, I realized that something was missing.  Fortunately, it was a silicone pan, so I just scooped out the glop, threw it back in the mixing bowl, added the butter and went from there.

TOUGH recipe to screw up.  Even if you are incredibly lazy - and distracted by tall women with blindingly white teeth and shiny hair.