This time of year, I’m usually basking in summer with not much to do. But thanks to a recent job promotion, I’m burning the candle at both ends. I wake up, work, work some more, and that’s kind of how it is. But at least the sun is shining!

And I have these to sustain me. The base is my favorite flourless peanut butter cookie dough filled with my even more favorite candy aisle choices: patriotic peanut M & Ms and Baby Ruth bars. Heck yeah!

Here’s the thing about holidays: baking bloggers LOVE them. You see, it’s hard to get constant inspiration from just life itself, so holidays provide a lot of ideas. Or at least, they provide a lot of candy with color schemes. I can’t tell you how excited I get every time the candy matches the season. It’s so darn cute.

Now that I’ve been blogging for two and a half years, I sometimes sit back and take stock of what I’ve accomplished so far. You see, I’ve been teaching for much longer, so compared to the time I’ve been in that profession, my time here on JAB is a drop in the bucket. Even so, I’m happy with where I’ve gotten so far with this little blog, and I try and take time to enjoy it.

Just a few days ago, I was texting back and forth with an old friend of mine. He had a rough day and wanted to know if I had “baked anything for the pain.” I immediately let him know that I’d just been paid to buy lots of ice cream and bake something to go with it, and that he should come on by with a huge spoon. In that moment, I felt very lucky. Lucky to be paid to work with ice cream, and lucky to have good friends to come over and share it.

They say that it’s super healthy to keep your brain active by trying new things and doing crossword puzzles. In theory, I love crossword puzzles, but my house is too hectic for me to sit back with that cup of tea and enjoy one on a regular basis. So instead, I’m a big fan of trying new things. This blog pushes every ounce of my creativity, and I’m so happy it’s here. Even though my day job is about to get a lot more hectic, I still want to hold on to what I’ve created here on JAB.

One of my favorite discoveries this season has been transferring flourless peanut butter cookie dough into bars. It’s even better than regular cookie dough. Wanna know why?

It’s the most intense peanutty flavor ever. When you reduce a cookie dough to mostly the star ingredient (peanut butter, in this case), it’s amazing. The flavors are so good. Add in peanuts and candy and the happiness overflows.

Another good thing about this cookie base? No mixer. About five seconds and no chill time is pretty much the situation! Feel free to thank me later.

It’s summer and things should be quiet, but they’re not. I’m cool with that, since we only go around once. Trying new things is important! Well, as long as we take our dessert breaks in between. We all need a moment here and there!

When I was a kid, my dad would pick us up after school and on simpler days, we’d go straight home. But sometimes there were errands to run, so we had to go out and about. While I hated errands, it usually meant I got to pick out an after school candy bar. For years, that candy bar was Baby Ruth. Those chocolate-covered peanut and caramel bars have a great deal of nostalgia for me.

Which kind of got me to thinking. I rarely bake with Baby Ruth bars, and that’s a crying shame. So today, I’ve remedied that neglect. They’re getting their very own brookie!

For those of you who are way behind the trend, a brookie is a fantastic mashup of a brownie and a cookie. It’s one of my favorite combinations, right up there with pake (pie and cake, a combo I fell in love with thanks to the show Drop Dead Diva) and pookies, a pie and cookie combo. Mashups don’t just belong in music, after all. They hold up even better in dessert. If you want to learn more about them, read my friend Dorothy’s amazing cookbook. She has some rocking recipe mashups!

Mashups also extend to other areas of life. Like the spork. You know the spork, right? That miraculous blend of spoon and fork? Why in the name of all that’s holy don’t cutlery sets (the real ones, not the plastic) come with sporks? They’re the only answer to the question, “What is the best way to eat an ice cream cake?” Duh! Spork!

Another mashup I love is the skort. I know that sounds incredibly dorky, but hear me out. As the mother of daughters, it’s so great to have them wear something that looks like a skirt, but has shorts underneath for when they inevitably do a downward-facing dog pose in front of a crowd. See, little girls love to show off their fancy underpants. The skort stops that from happening.

In fact, the skort is so awesome that I found a couple of really chic ones (no, I’m not kidding) on sale at Athleta. They look like miniskirts, but really, they’re miniskorts. I look cute, and I don’t have to worry that someone is looking up my skirt when I’m not sitting with my knees clamped together.

So if you haven’t gotten it by now, I love mashups. And these Baby Ruth brookies are no exception. The bottom layer is a brownie made with real chocolate. That happened because I ran low on cocoa, so I made it up as I went along. It worked! Brownies are forgiving, and now you have the recipe below. The top layer is a cookie dough, and it’s run through with chopped fun-sized Baby Ruth bars. If ever there were an appropriate name for smaller candy bars, it’s “fun-sized.” What marketing genius came up with that?

If you haven’t spent much time thinking about the joy of mashups, you’d better start now. Begin with a neglected candy bar from youth and then branch out to cutlery and clothing. It’s the perfect way to reject having to compromise. Get something exactly the way you want it!