Still, maybe worth doing for when I'm anticipating a hard day and I can defrost overnight.
It takes 15 minutes for a single blondie to thaw on the counter. Can you really not wait 15 minutes? Are you actually the cookie monster from sesame street?
This is just not true. Based on past experiences, it would take an hour for a medium-sized brownie to defrost properly on our counter. Not only do I want zero chance of an icy core, I also want it to be room temperature, not uncomfortably cold.
OK, so I've been thinking about what the problem actually is that I'm trying to solve, and have realised that there are two:
1. Sometimes I know in advance that I have a marathon work day coming up and want something nice for an afternoon snack to perk the day up, but I don't want to either eat a crappy mars bar or pay £2.50 for a fancypants slice of cake. The solution here is clearly overnight defrosting of pre-baked treats. Cheap and no freaky ingredients.
2. Sometimes I have an intense yearning for treat food. Not often, maybe a few times a month. These times, it actually SHOULD be something that requires effort so I can decide whether or not it's worth it. So I just need to figure out my mug cake equivalent and keep the ingredients on hand. No microwave, though!
At the risk of pulling this off topic, have you considering using something other than food to motivate/reward yourself?
I mean, sure, it's an option. But I don't have a problematic relationship with food and I'm not talking a daily thing, more maybe weekly (depends how much I'm working!). I mainly want to reduce the cost and the freaky ingredients. Are their other treats I should consider instead?