Failure Brownies

I was inspired by a Carrot-Zucchini Blondie Bars recipe guest posted by Creative Food over at MOMables,  but I was feeling too lazy to measure out honey, so I changed it up a bit. How could you possibly go wrong adding chocolate...?

Quickie Lunch: sandwich, cheese stick, green beans, Failure Brownies, apples

Here's the list of ingredients to get you started (with my substitutions in red,) but you'll want to go to the original recipe to get the whole scoop! Try the original recipe. I've only seen rave reviews!

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 c shredded carrot

1 c blotted and packed shredded zucchini

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c golden raisins [*I left these out]

1/2 c canola oil [*I subbed in jarred baby food carrot puree]

1/4 c honey [*I subbed granulated sugar]

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp flax seed meal (optional) [*I didn't have any, so I left this out]

[*I also added 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1/2 c mini chocolate chips. How could I possibly go wrong?]

I mixed my dry ingredients...

I mixed my moist ingredients (and didn't slightly beat the eggs first. Lazy.)

I poured into a pan and topped with chocolate chips... Helloooo deliciousness! Am I right?

And baked as directed.

Somehow these were an epic fail. I tried getting Z to eat them again after her first bite, and she'd only pick off the chocolate chips. After my second attempt to give them to her in her lunch, she couldn't even be bothered to do that. They were just so... blah. They weren't terrible... just not... tasty. They were off. Maybe not enough cocoa powder. Maybe too much. Maybe my cocoa powder was too old (does it even go bad?) I gamely tried to choke them down for a few days, until I gave up and tossed them in the yard waste bin.

Verdict? 

FAIL!