Do you feel as though you have an impact on the world around you?

I’ve always felt very satisfied at my chosen profession. With teaching, I’m fairly sure that I make an impact. I just have to strive my hardest to make it a consistently positive one for my students and the teachers I supervise. That’s one reason I don’t really want to go into anything else; I might be getting paid, but it’s also a way to give back.

Teaching is also about possibilities. Every day, I see new paths for both myself and the people around me, and that inspires creativity. It’s that same creativity that sparks my baking and that makes it so much fun to create new desserts. Thanks to NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® and their new line of baking mixes, I can take their Brownies & More with chocolate morsels mix and turn it into a quick and tasty peanut butter brownie pizza!

As I’m working among the dusty books this summer getting the office ready for teachers, I need to take breaks from time to time. Last week, I spent the morning in a storage room without air conditioning straightening things out. By the time a few hours had gone by, I needed a break and some supplies. Luckily, I work down the street from Target, and when I got there, I stocked up on every single flavor of these baking mixes. After all, I need to bake treats for my teachers, who are coming in this week voluntarily to meet. Talk about inspiring!

Personally, I’ve always been inspired by people who lead by example. I’ve worked for some amazing teachers and instructional leaders who find innovative ways to help kids achieve, and it’s my continuous goal to be the same way. Hard work is important, and so are good intentions. Still, I also enjoy looking at ideas from a new angle and trying to find a different approach. It keeps everything much fresher.

It’s that same skill that makes me a lover of baking mixes. Sure, I could enjoy these NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® mixes just the way they are by following the directions on the box. And believe me, I did whip up a batch of both the Cookies & More with chocolate morsels as well as the Cookies & More with Butterfinger just for fun, and it was great. I also can’t wait to try the Brownies & More with Butterfinger. These new mixes have no artificial flavors or colors, and they come with the cutest little bags of chocolate morsels or Butterfinger bits. I’m always about the cute.

Still, when I buy a baking mix, I turn it into something else about 85% of the time. It’s just more fun that way! In this instance, I took the brownie mix and used a springform pan to make a “pizza” crust. The base gets covered with a peanut butter frosting and more chocolate morsels from the cute bag. It’s a fast, easy and fun dessert that I guarantee will fill the crowds with awe and wonder at what you can do.

How do you like to dress up your baking mixes? Pick some up with this special deal from Ibotta and start baking now. There are so many options, and the creativity is yours to enjoy. Innovation is where it’s at, and using baking mixes provides a solid place to start. See what you can create!

And it’s even more a thing when it’s smothered in peanut butter caramel and sprinkled with sea salt. If you’re looking for me, I’m hiding in a closet with a giant wedge of this and a martini. Come find me sometime next week.

Oh, and did I mention there are peanut butter chips inside the brownie? This is one of those times when you run toward making this. No walking!

I’m sure you’ve all been following the news story about the gorilla and the kid at the zoo. The story is tragic and scary in so many ways, but that’s not what I’ve been thinking about for the past week.

To be honest, I’m completely shocked at the response to this event. Without seeing much (or any) footage or even knowing details, people quickly and vocally split into Team Kid or Team Gorilla. They’ve been tearing one another apart online, each side insisting on being right. Experts have been brought in too, just in case the fighting wasn’t loud enough.

Even if you know the details, even if you were there, can I make a request?

Be compassionate. Be kind. Have good manners. Stop assuming you know everything and that you are above reproach. Stop tearing other people apart.

No matter what political affiliation you have, this election season has been marked by the same vitriol and hate. Instead of arguing issues, people are employing the classic logical fallacy of ad hominem rhetoric to make personal insults and senseless jabs the order of the day. It’s as though a reality TV mentality has taken over our political consciousness and landscape, replacing real conversation and intellectual debate with spite and pettiness.

Well, I’ve had enough. I don’t want to read any more about the horrible things people say and do to one another. How can we expect our children to grow up and be good people if the adults around them have lost their minds?

I spend a lot of time practicing avoidance. Instead of letting stupidity get to me, I often pass up reading the newspaper. That probably makes me less informed, but considering how idiotic people can be, I’m cool being out of the loop. I’d rather stay in my bubble and eat dessert.

All I did here was take my happy brownie base, add peanut butter chips, and put it into a 9-inch springform pan. After baking it, I covered it in my super-easy peanut butter caramel, which is a hack. Just combine sweetened condensed milk with a cup of peanut butter over low heat and stir until smooth. Once it’s covered and set, sprinkle the whole thing with sea salt.

The result is a brownie cake you will not soon forget. I wish I could forget all the ickiness going on in our world right now, and that everyone could just behave. But since that won’t happen, I’ll hole up with this instead!

A lot of people make adorable sugar cookies iced beautifully for holidays, but I prefer a brownie to a cookie. So why not do these cutouts instead? Plus, you can eat all the brownie scraps that are leftover from the heart cutouts. It’s a perfect snack!

Has anyone else thought about how ironic it is that a month dedicated to eating healthfully is followed by a month all about chocolate? But hey, I’m not complaining.

There are much better sources for complaint at my local grocery store. Lines that are too long at checkout. Snow that doesn’t get cleared properly from the parking lot. People who bring more than 10 items into the express lane. People who leave their carts in parking spaces instead of returning them. Food products on the shelf for sale at half-price that are actually expired. Is that even legal?

How about we take some action and change things? One day Kenny got so exasperated at the expired cheese being sold that he threw it all into a box lying on the ground and gave it to the store manager. But that’s the only form of resistance I’ve seen.

How many of you have schooled someone in the express lane with too many items? If you have, tell me. And has anyone ever caught anyone else in the act of leaving a cart in a parking lot? That is such a pet peeve of mine!

What are your grocery store pet peeves? I want to know!

At least the stores have food, which we can use to bake lovely brownie heart cutouts. They’re a snap to make and a huge success, especially with kids. You can even make them with kids. I used my trusty brownie base, but you can also use a mix. It’s simple!

While you’re out there hassling with pet peeves, just look forward to the food you’re coming home to. And if you see grocery store injustice, fight back!

There used to be something romantic about snowstorms too, but now that I’m watching Kenny dig us out from two-plus feet of snow while my children destroy the house, I’m not really that into it. I’d much rather have clean streets and be at work, thank you very much.

The good news is, I’ve got these mocha mousse brownie bites to keep me company as the snow refuses to melt and the winds die down. These are pretty much my idea of a perfect Valentine’s dessert. These rich, fudgy brownie bites are topped with a mocha mousse and drizzled with chocolate. If you think it’s rich, you’re right! That’s how I do.

In the D.C. area, people aren’t used to snow. When I first moved here, I was shocked at how a simple dusting could immobilize the entire region for hours, so you can imagine what this huge snowstorm (dubbed Snowzilla in these here parts) has done for the area.

It all began Friday night, and we have yet to see a single snowplow. Our cul de sac is still dusted with twentysomething inches of fresh powder, untouched by person or machine. I’d like to think we’ll be plowed out at some point, but I really have no clue when. In the meantime, the task falls upon me to keep the three little monsters happy. Lucky Kenny gets to go back to work tomorrow in our basement, since he teleworks.

So, any suggestions? I’m looking for snow day ideas that aren’t crazy messy or difficult. We’ll have our baking time, our yoga/fitness time, our movie time, our snow time. But what else can I do? Help me, please. PLEASE.

In exchange, I will bake you marvelousness if you ever come through DC. Really. It’s the least I can do for keeping everyone sane in the big bad storm aftermath.

These bites of decadence might be helping with that sanity a bit, too. When things get rough, I can hide in the closet with a stack of these and a thermos full of Riesling. That’s a pretty good coping strategy, in case you needed one.

If you’ve never made mousse using cream, it’s the easiest and safest way to go without resorting to Cool Whip. Instead of a mousse packed with raw egg, this requires whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Then the mocha gets mixed in (hellooooo, coffee and chocolate) and once the mousse is chilled, you can pipe it onto the brownie bites. It’s elegant as well as satisfying!

Stay tuned, because if they don’t plow us out by Wednesday’s post, I’ll either need more snow day ideas from you or some serious therapy. In the meantime, the digging begins as Valentine’s Day looms ever nearer. Stay warm, everyone!

I mean, it’s pretty much impossible not to love cheesecake, so why not one more push for pumpkin? Or wait…I might have yet another post in the pipeline with that lovely form of orange squash. Can you take one more after this?

Either way, this one is quite a literal winner. I entered these bars in a D.C. top chef-style contest a few years ago, and they cleaned up. I won not only the dessert category, but also the overall grand prize. So believe me, you want to make these.

Thanksgiving makes me bubbly excited, which is kind of nice. I like seeing people, I like eating pie, and I really like the Macy’s parade. It’s very reassuring to have these annual traditions, especially with all the turmoil and sadness surrounding us in the world right now.

It’s hard to know what to tell my children sometimes. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. How do we explain evil? How do we even begin to get into all of that when we don’t understand it ourselves?

I used to think that adults had the answers, and one of my largest moments of disillusionment occurred when I realized that nope, they don’t know a whole lot more than kids do. Who can truly give us answers? Who can protect us? Who can make sure this world stays safe for our children?

If I knew, I’d tell you. A lot of survival depends on having faith that all will be okay, but of course, that’s not a guarantee. It’s hard to live without letting fear take too much hold.

It’s in those moments of fear and doubt that I hide in a closet with dessert. It’s dark and I can just close my eyes, wipe my mind of everything but the flavors in my mouth, and forget for just a minute that our world is in some serious trouble.

Oh, and I should probably stop watching episodes of Heroes Reborn. It’s a lot of fun, but according to the show, the world is ending. Maybe I should watch more cute, funny TV. Or more reality baking shows. There can never be enough!

And there can never be enough cheesecake on top of brownie. This time of year, it’s pumpkin cheesecake. I really don’t have anything more to say about that, except that if you eat this, you will be very happy. I have some in the fridge waiting for another moment of panic.

As a bona fide grown-up, I wish I had more answers. Instead, all I have is dessert. So I guess that will have to do for now!

This post is not just about this dessert, which I made in honor of love that lasts. It’s about, well, the love that lasts.

For instance, I’ve loved brownies forever, and I always will. Same for chocolate. Same for Kenny. Are we sensing a pattern yet here?

I’ve talked about Kenny and our relationship from time to time on this blog, but I never talked about the first time I ever saw him. It was my first weekend at college, and as a transplant from Indiana to Maryland, I didn’t know a soul. Looking back, I must have been terrified and nervous, but I don’t remember that part.

Fresh off my first weekend as a college student, I headed to a Sunday evening barbecue. I was relieved when I saw a girl I’d met at orientation, and we waved and walked over to each other. After we got our burgers and settled down on chairs, she pointed across the large square at a boy and said, “That’s the boy I want to date. His name is Kenny, and my sister knows him from camp. Isn’t he cute?”

Kenny was, indeed, very cute. He was tall, athletic, blonde, and just the kind of guy I knew would never look at me. And sure enough, while we became vaguely friendly, he remained completely elusive. He dated a friend of mine briefly, and I dated other people, and that was really the end of it. Or so I thought.

Fast-forward seven years, and I was a seasoned D.C. resident with a lot more moxie. Kenny and I were still friendly, even though I barely saw him. But over drinks with my best friend one night (shout out to her for this), she told me to take a chance and ask him out.

Over more drinks, I agreed. And I did. And boy, was I shocked when I realized that this boy I’d known for all these years was actually serious dating potential. It was even more of a shock when we fell in love and, in fairly quick order, got married.

I’ve known Kenny for half my life now, and we’ve been together for eleven years. As of today, we’ve been married for ten of those years. In that time, we’ve had three children, gone through numerous challenges together, and we’ve faced it all with our usual tendency to try and not take things so seriously. I couldn’t ask for a better partner to keep me sane and grounded.

It’s because of my constant gratitude to a man that I basically became myself with that I want to really celebrate the heck outta this anniversary. And of course, that means we’ve got to do it up on the dessert front.

My recipe for gluten-free brownies is solid, so I used that as a base for these mini-tortes. The brownies are baked and then topped with a layer of raspberry jam. Over that, I poured a rich chocolate ganache and added some chocolate-covered raspberries. And if you’re up for some flair, powdered sugar doesn’t hurt.

The dessert is elegant and celebratory, but not difficult at all. If you can’t find a disposable paper baking cup for them (I got lucky at Target in the clearance bin), a ramekin would work just as well.

To Kenny: happy tenth, babes. Let’s hope the next ten are just as sweet.

So hard to answer a question for which there’s no good answer. The reason is, of course, because I just never got around to it. And now that I have, I’m embarrassed at how long it took.

I mean, it’s a Butterfinger. They’re so happy. Why would anyone ever leave them out on purpose? Especially when they can go into brownie bites? And I’m not talking about those mediocre brownie bites you buy at Costco in the container. Nuh-uh. These blow those sad little stand-ins for a baked good out of the water, and then some.

If I’ve seemed out of the loop for the past few days, it’s because a string of Jewish holidays forces me to be away from all things digital on and off for a month. It sounds nice in theory, but the massive amounts of work that pile up while I’m sitting in a hut in my backyard eating meals, even in the rain (don’t ask) doesn’t exactly put me in the holiday kind of mood.

Religions have varying levels of celebrating, and if you’re like me, you find yourself celebrating an awful lot of the time. So when Christmas rolls around and everyone gets so excited about the holiday season, I get excited that somebody else is making huge meals and buying lots of fancy paper goods and having relatives to stay over. Because it’s not me. On Christmas Day, I do nothing. And it’s such a relief. That’s probably why Christmas is my favorite holiday. That and the really fun caroling. Caroling is delightful.

Tell me if you get this: when we were kids, holidays were fun and exciting. And if we have kids, it’s pretty neat to watch them get excited. But. They’re just so much wooooork. If given the choice, I would take all the money we spend on holidays, from groceries to gifts, and use that as a payment toward a family flight to the tropics. Now that would be a holiday worth celebrating.

But since that’s not happening anytime soon (I think our extended family might revolt if we disappeared for a string of holidays to go bake in the sun somewhere), I have to find reasons to celebrate that don’t involve a lot of work. So hello, Butterfinger brownie bites!

It’s so simple, really. Chopped Butterfinger bars get nestled into brownie batter, topped with crushed Butterfingers, and baked. It takes no time to get to brownie bliss. Like I said, no idea why this didn’t happen sooner.

Sometimes we forget to celebrate the little things because we’re so busy paying attention to larger holidays. But in a season of candy joy (isn’t Halloween coming sometime soon-ish?), nothing is better than remembering how fantastic it is to bake candy bars into anything.

A year ago, I tried making the famous Sacher torte for my mother’s birthday. It’s a dense chocolate cake with apricot filling that hails from Vienna. I did tons of research and worked much harder than usual to get the cake just right.

Epic fail, everyone. The glaze was clumpy and the cake was just way too dry. It was so not worth all that time and effort. Luckily, time passed and I decided I wanted to try again, but this time I did it on my terms. That means the cake became a brownie and the glaze was a much simpler version of the process that did me in a year ago.

It’s cliché to say that time heals, but clichés are often quite true. I’ve had friendships end, important ones, without really understanding what happened. It’s hurtful, but stepping back and getting both time and perspective can really help.

One of my favorite short stories is by my favorite author, Edith Wharton. She wrote a story called “Roman Fever” that I’ve read more times than I can possibly say. It starts a little slow, but if you make it through to the end, I promise it will be rewarding. Anyway, it’s about two older women who have all these friendship issues even though they should be well past it. One of the best lines from the story is, “So these two ladies visualized each other, each through the wrong end of her little telescope.”

We’re always looking at other people that way, through the wrong end of whatever telescope we happen to be peering through. That’s how friendships end, why people hurt other people, and why it’s so hard for everyone to get along. Very few people can see inside the real version of ourselves to get who we really are. When we find those people, we should hold on to them, because they’re rare.

One of the people who gets me, and who always will, is my mother. We’re not alike in a lot of ways, but in the important ways, we are. On the surface, we look and behave differently, but we have the same fundamental views on the things that matter. So the least my mother deserves is a cake on her birthday.

My mom is a pianist (and a darn good one), so that’s why I piped some music flair on her cake. My children call her “Baba,” the Russian word for “grandmother,” so that’s the B you see. She likes Sacher torte, so I gave her my best version of it at this point. Maybe someday I’ll do it the traditional way, but this year, she got the brownie-fied version.

A year ago, I couldn’t have thought of even trying something close to this cake again, but hey, time helps. All we need is the space to think and read amazing short stories and everything is healed. So happy birthday to my mom, who is the best. I love her more than I love brownies!

Years ago, I tried Ben and Jerry’s Cheesecake Brownie flavor. And it was such a great flavor. After all, what could be better than cheesecake ice cream with brownie chunks? I asked myself that very question while I made this ice cream.

Answer? Cheesecake ice cream with BIGGER brownie chunks and chocolate chunks to boot! You’re welcome. Feel free to send me an award of some kind.

By the time this goes up, I’ll be sitting at my office computer, twiddling my thumbs. We had quite a few snow days this year, so the school system dutifully tacked days onto the end to make up for lost time. And that would make sense, if not for one small detail: kids in high school take final exams and leave.

So that leaves us, their loyal teachers, a few extra days to clean out our rooms, file papers, clear off desks, and finalize grades. It’s nice to have the time, but I have the bad habit of not procrastinating at the workplace. Or anywhere. You might think that’s a good thing, but I happen to believe that procrastination is a hidden virtue. Back in the day, I was a champion procrastinator and I was happy, lazy and carefree. Now I get everything done well before it needs to be, and instead of relaxing, do you know what happens?

I find more things to do. I am a bastion of productivity. As a result, there are very few thumb-twiddling moments, and that is not okay. Being lazy is a virtue. I said it, and I meant it. That’s why when all the students are gone and I’m sitting around with nothing left to do, it’s a rare feeling of boredom.

Then the summer whirlwind begins, and if you’re a parent, you know that summer is not relaxing. It’s a lot more work. That’s why you have to stock the freezer with cool, loaded cheesecake brownie chunk ice cream!

My number one complaint with ice cream is the stinginess of so many brands when it comes to mix-ins. So I was sure to chop up half a brownie pan and dump those delightful pieces into this ice cream along with another cup of giant chocolate chunks. Let nobody accuse me of having any one bite not include mix-ins!

This recipe is no-churn, which means I mixed it all up in a bowl, froze it, and that was the end. I also put the ice cream in adorable mini ice cream containers to portion out helpings. I want to scoop giant spoonfuls into my mouth, but when I hit the bottom of the little containers, that’s all for now!

The ice cream itself is creamy and tastes just like cheesecake, probably because of the block of cream cheese in it. That helps. And when your summer hits, you’ll either do what’s on your list of tasks or kick back. But procrastinator or not, you’ll have ice cream to keep you company!

Oh, irony. Many years later, I tried cheesecake, and well, you probably know what happened. I realized that I am a prize idiot. Who would ever argue with magic? Not me, I can tell you. Since that bright and shining day, I’ve had a very hard time not having cheesecake whenever it happens to appear in front of me.

Plain cheesecake can be resisted with difficulty. But add anything in there, particularly chocolate, and I’m a goner. So I made these cheesecake brownies with the full realization that I was undergoing a mission of highly addictive proportions.

One way to mitigate the feeding frenzy that accompanies a cheesecake brownie is to cut them into tiny squares. I did that. People got confused and thought it was fudge until they tried them, since my brownies happen to be very dense and fudgy. That’s the only way. But I will say that the tinier size was really perfect, since these are incredibly rich.

You want to be careful not to open the oven while these are baking. If you do that, you risk cracking the top. It’s hard, I know. But just follow the timing on the recipe and you’ll be hunky dory!

It’s my last day of work before winter break, folks, so I will take this opportunity to wish you a very happy holiday season. Make sure your celebrations include at least one sweet treat (preferably several). Cheers!