There are times when life gets a little intense, friends. This is one of those times. It’s been a rough month, and reading the newspaper really doesn’t help. I don’t understand how people can watch the news before they go to bed. Do they want to have nightmares? Lie awake in their beds imagining worst-case scenarios?

Every day, I skim headlines. When they’re not too bad I feel a vague sense of satisfaction. But when (as has been the case for the past few weeks) I see a lot of scary and disturbing stuff, I retreat into my kitchen to bake. And the worse the headline, the more crazy I go with the food. That’s why these peanut butter bars are so intense.

Nestle has been selling these amazing filled chocolate chips. They have lots of flavors: mint, cherry, caramel, and of course, peanut butter. So these bars are chock-full of the PB-filled chips and peanut butter chips as well. Why hold back?

These are kind of a blondie-peanut butter bar hybrid. Blondies are characterized by their intense levels of brown sugar. If you’ve ever had brown sugar with peanut butter, you know what I’m talking about when I say that I had to dump an entire cup of brown sugar in this and eschew (yes, I’m an English teacher, I use big words) any granulated sugar. It made for a chewier, denser bar. Brown sugar all the way!

If you don’t like peanut butter, avoid these at all cost. There’s no place for you here! Don’t you know me by now?

Seriously, enjoy these. But not while watching the news. Avoid the news! Instead, watch reruns of Gilmore Girls while you chow down. It will feel so much better.