German Chocolate Brownies

German Chocolate Brownies

Aw yeah. I went there.

Full confession: until a few years ago, I turned my nose up at all coconut desserts. All of them. And then one day, the angels spoke to me and I ate an Almond Joy. Boy, did I feel like an idiot. It was delicious.

Since then, I’ve come to realize how much a heap of coconut on top of a dessert can change the game. And when that heap of coconut happens to be couched in easy, gooey German chocolate frosting, so much the better.

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German Chocolate Pie

German Chocolate Pie

I thought I was done with pie. I really did, I promise! But that was before Friendsgiving happened.

Since this is the time of year that people usually count their blessings and express thanks, I have to think about the amazing teachers I work with. I don’t write about my job much here, but as many of you know, I’m a full-time, National Board certified high school English teacher. It’s a very intense job and my days are anything but relaxing, especially since my downtime is nonexistent with three small kids at home. But man, do I love it.

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Samoa Cookie Cake

Samoa Cookie Cake

No, you didn’t read that wrong. I realize it’s not that time of year. You know, the magical days when little girls (or more likely, their parents) start collecting cookie orders for Girl Scouts. Nope, if it were that time of year, the weather would be getting warmer instead of colder and I’d be a lot happier.

So what do you do when your buddy has a birthday in September and her favorite cookies are Samoas? And there are no Samoas to be had?

Well, make one, of course. A giant one. In a cookie cake!

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Magic Twist Bars (Gluten-Free!)

Magic Twist Bars (Gluten-Free!)

Today is my first day back at work. Ah, the good ol’ grind. A week from today, my now empty classroom will be full of sleepy teenagers wondering what in the heck happened to their freedom. I will be annoyingly perky and they will hate me. Heh heh heh.

This is year 15 for me as a teacher, and every year, I love it just a little bit more. Teaching is unpredictable and active and just so much fun. I laugh a lot at work. But then, I find people funny. Kids especially. I know that my own kids get really mad when they think I’m laughing at them (i.e., all the time), so I will do a better job of hiding my smiles at work. Maybe.

To make my esteemed colleagues feel a bit better about returning, I’ve made some treats. One of my teacher buddies can’t have gluten, and guess what? She’s been teaching for over 35 years. So I think she deserves these bars!

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Magic Bar Pie

Magic Bar Pie

There’s a bakery chain in the DC area called Firehook. They sell a lot of good stuff, to put it mildly. I used to pop in for soothing cups of tea and baked goods on long cold walks from my condo to grad school. I was not a fan of grad school, and it seems like sugar always helped me out with that.

In those long-ago days, I pretty much always hoped to find a big chocolate chip cookie behind the glass cases at Firehook. They were good. And don’t get me wrong. I still love those big cookies! But one day, I saw a big bar wrapped in plastic. It was called a seven-layer bar, and I’d never heard of that before. Don’t think I’m oblivious. It was like thirteen years ago!

When I tried the bar, I couldn’t believe all the fun packed into that one square! Coconuts and pecans and chocolate chips, all atop a fantastic graham cracker crust. I later learned that this concoction is also known as a Hello Dolly or a Magic Bar, and you know, I preferred the latter name. Those bars taste like magic!

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Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Tart

Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Tart

It’s Passover Week on Just About Baked! I’m sharing my go-to Passover dessert recipes this week because, well, I’m on a mission. For years I ate substandard desserts because I thought there was nothing else out there. But a few years back, I did some research and then I did some baking. Well, a lot of baking. The recipes you’ll see this week are all crowd-pleasers and they’re also easy. What could be better?

Onward! A year ago, I was reading my Good Housekeeping magazine (which is kind of ironic because I’m not that good at housekeeping) when I saw this three-ingredient recipe, just in time for Passover. It looked so fancy and elegant, but it turned out to be the easiest thing in the world to make.

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