As a baking blogger, I try to invent the majority of the recipes I share with you. After all, part of the joy is in the creation. However, there are times when somebody else’s recipe is just too good not to share, and this is one of those times.

A few weeks ago, we had lunch with friends, and their eight year-old daughter made these chocolate chip sticks. Not only were my kids impressed that someone their age baked a treat all by herself, but they also loved them. I’ve had the recipe sitting around in a cookbook called The Kosher Palette for years, but I need to make them more. These cookies are a cross between biscotti and chocolate chip cookies, and you don’t want to miss out!

This is my vacation week, so I’m not super focused on anything right now. I’ve eased up on social media until next week, and I’m taking time to just take some deep breaths.

Being on vacation really reminds me how stressful the rest of the year is. And it’s not just the exhaustion from work that winds up taking its toll. The mental energy required to stay on top of everything produces a lot of stress, a lot of cortisol, and a lot of trouble. Whenever we’re stressed out, our bodies respond in their own ways. We might feel pain, or get indigestion, or not be able to stay awake at the dinner table.

If only there were a good way to manage stress when vacation can’t take care of the problem for us. Some methods, like regular exercise and calm breathing, are definitely helpful. But is there any way to replicate this stress-free feeling when there are to-do lists and projects and people with needs everywhere? That’s not a rhetorical question, but I don’t have the answer. Help me out!

Because I’m stress-free this week, I’m keeping this post short. But that’s appropriate, because this recipe takes almost no time to make. See?

When you’re done, you have a delicious (and butter-free, might I add) treat for everyone to share. These aren’t just quick; they’re borderline healthy. Or at least, borderline not terrible for you. I’ll take that!

And I’ll take my week of vacation. The desserts don’t stop, but I’m posting them with a better mindset right now. Hope you all get a break in there sometime soon!

It has nothing to do with a fear of yeast, which has never really bothered me. It’s pretty easy to use, unless the yeast is dead. And that doesn’t happen very often. No, it’s more about the ultimate convenience and endless wonder of a bread machine. Why work on the dough myself when there’s a lovely machine sitting on my counter that can do all the heavy lifting for me?

Now, now, bread enthusiasts. Back off. I’m sure that my machine can’t do the wonderful things you can do, but it sure can make some cinnamon rolls lickety-split. I made these (and they’re dairy-free, too!) the night of our big snowstorm, and they made a perfect breakfast to wake up to.

While the snow is slowly melting, more disasters loom. I was looking forward to a snow day or two to myself (my kids’ school went back midweek while my system remained closed) when my youngest came down with a fever. She can’t go to school like that, so now I’m on full-time nurse duty. If history repeats itself (and it does), I’ll catch whatever she has just in time to go back to teaching this coming Monday.

Parenting 101, y’all. Ready? The more children in the house, the more disease. It’s a given, and it’s totally gross. I used to think I wouldn’t be able to clean up anything disgusting, but I’ve proven myself wrong. I’m not saying that it’s fun, but I’ve seen enough stomach-churning sights over the past eight years that I’m kind of regretting my decision not to go into medicine. Would I have passed organic chemistry? Maybe not, but I would have been able to look at any kind of human ickiness without batting an eyelash.

Plus, I’ve become extremely adept at diagnosis. Most of the time when I go to a doctor, I already know what they’re going to say. If not for their magic access to prescription-only medication, I wouldn’t even go.  Oh, except for the fact that they know a lot more than I do and can save lives and all of that.

It’s a passion for research that has me scouring medical encyclopedias and cookbooks alike. With so few years on this planet (relatively speaking, that is), we’ve gotta learn whatever we can while we can! And have I mentioned that for me, a bakery visit also counts as research?

Whenever I go to the mall, I smell those famous Cinnabon devils baking. They had to put that right next to a DSW to tempt me, right? But I resist the urge every single time because I know I can make cinnamon rolls that are just as good and less of a calorie bomb right here at home. The dough comes out perfectly in a bread machine. See?

These are non-dairy. Translation: I used margarine. Or you can use any non-dairy butter substitute, or just use butter. I wanted to see what would happen without butter, and I’m happy to report that I still couldn’t stop eating these. So if Khloe Kardashian is still on that dairy-free diet, she’s welcome to dig in. I don’t think they’ll qualify as a health food. Sorry, K.

These come together super fast, and I also put mini chocolate chips in the filling to make the rolls especially melty and irresistible. Instead of a traditional cream cheese glaze, I used a simpler glaze for shine. Sometimes I like the cream cheese glaze, but most of the time I actually prefer a plainer roll. With the heavy glaze, it can be too much.

You’re one bread machine away from this happiness, so I recommend you hit it! And if someone gets sick, you can eat all of these to keep your energy up as you nurse the afflicted toward recovery. Either way, they make for a much cozier winter!

Seriously, when you love something, you don’t set it free. You keep it in your life and obsess over it. I’ve never been able to turn down cheesecake, especially if it’s packed with milk chocolate chips. I’ve never been able to turn down a chocolate chip cookie, unless something is majorly wrong in my life.

Putting them together just equals total happiness. If anyone wants to be unhappy, stop reading.

I’m not sure what’s going on with this year, but my stress level has been through the roof lately. I’ve informed everyone at work to schedule my nervous breakdown for November. If I warn them in advance, will it be okay to take to my bed and stare at the walls?

On a daily basis, I find myself juggling way too much. It’s inevitable that some balls will drop, and then I feel guilty. After all, aren’t women supposed to somehow handle it all without freaking out?

I’m not saying that men have less to handle, necessarily. But when Kenny has a huge to-do list, he gives himself a few weeks to get to what needs to be done, and the piling amount of work doesn’t seem to faze him that much. But with me, I need to get through my lists daily, or it all comes crumbling down.

This week, I have the usual five classes to teach every day and  the resultant large stack of essays to grade. On top of that, I’m finishing up college recommendations for the students I teach who are doing what’s known as “early action,” which means they get into college before everyone else. I admire their drive. It just makes for a lot of letter-writing on my part.

I’m also doing a project proposal for making the literary magazine I run at work have its own app. I don’t know how to make an app, but I’m hoping someone in the building can help me. And I’m taking a leadership course this fall that comes with 18 hours of homework.

Oh, and then I run this blog, which I love, not to mention how much I love eating the desserts I show you all. So I’ll do my best to hold off on that breakdown if you let me eat all these chocolate chip cookie cheesecake bars myself. Are we agreed?

The base of these bars is a standard chocolate chip cookie dough which gets mostly baked before the cheesecake layer is added to the top. When I make cheesecake for bars, I keep the batter very low in sugar. The fact that the cheesecake is rich and full of chocolate chips coupled with the cookie base means that you don’t need the extra sweetness.

There’s really no way that these won’t become a household favorite. Even though I admit that my stress level is way out of whack lately, sharing desserts like this gives me unending pleasure. Whether you just gaze at the pics or decide to make some yourself, enjoy whatever stolen moments the day can bring. Calm breathing, everyone!