The other day, I was really worn out. But since I’m not a coffee drinker, I did the next best thing: I gave myself a shot of this mousse. It’s not alcoholic, but it sure is caffeinated. Be still my heart. Nope, it’s beating too fast for that.

Not only is this the epitome of coffee and chocolate goodness, but there are also chocolate Heath bits through and through. Mousse has never tasted so incredible!

Mousse is definitely a sensitive topic in my family. When I was growing up, one of my brothers didn’t put such a high premium on staying out of trouble. To make matters worse, he had this really bad habit of laughing at my parents whenever they were trying to punish them. I always told him that was a dumb move, but he didn’t seem to care that much.

On the rare occasions when my brother wasn’t wreaking havoc, my mother would reward him by making chocolate mousse. My mom didn’t bake often, so this was quite a treat. He loved chocolate mousse and I guess it was supposed to be a behavior incentive, but it didn’t work in the long term because, you know, kids.

Anyway, I have another brother who always a model of kindness and goodness. He was in trouble, oh, never. So all these years later, he’s still kind of amazed that while the majority of my mother’s children behaved well and never received mousse, my brother got it for being good now and then. It seemed like a great injustice.

And, well, I guess it was. But I’ve learned that it’s impossible to treat your children the same way. They’re different people, and it’s inevitable that they can’t always have the same things. It might come across as unfair, but I think it’s unavoidable.

Besides, my brother can have all the mousse he wants now, because I’ll make it for him! I’ll even make it for the one who didn’t behave. I love them both.

This takes almost no time to whip up, and it’s so nice and cool and light for these hot days. The toffee bits give a delightful crunch amid all the mocha creaminess, and you’ll be very happy. Plus, if you put this mousse in elegant glassware, it becomes the best company dessert ever!

If you want to stall some family squabbles this holiday weekend (or anytime, really), give mousse a try. It might make your kids behave, anyway…for about ten seconds!

Across the pond, “banoffee” refers to the combination of bananas and toffee, typically in the form of a creamy pie. I must be honest: it’s not my favorite way to do pie. I’d rather hang out with key lime any day.

But then I got to thinking: what if the flavors got put into a different textural context? It turns out that I love banoffee when it’s in a cake. Or to be more specific, a cake I can’t stop eating. Which is fine, because it’s pretty healthy!

It’s taken eight years of mothering to figure out how I want to spend Mother’s Day. Sure enough, Kenny hit the jackpot this year. It wasn’t just that everyone let me have a whole morning to myself, though that was nice. I used it to take pictures for the blog and then I watched episodes of Entourage in bed. That was quite lovely.

And it wasn’t just that Kenny bought me the best box of chocolates ever, either, though that was quite lovely too.

He actually (wait for it) tore one of my meal planning sheets off the notepad I keep on the fridge and worked out the weekly meal plan with the kids. Then they went to the store and bought all the groceries for the plan. I didn’t have to think about what to have for dinner, which is one of my least favorite things to do. I hate that Sundays are synonymous with meal planning.

And he made dinner, too! I found steaks marinating in the fridge and the boy actually grilled vegetables. Like, zucchini and whatnot. If you know Kenny, you realize that’s a step in a new direction, because he’s picky with veggies. And then…he ate the zucchini.

You can be married to a guy for a long time and know him even longer, and he can still surprise you. And give you the best Mother’s Day of your life. Did I mention that swirly frozen margaritas also made their way into the day?

This banoffee cake was my morning snack. It made Mother’s Day even more amazing, and healthy, too. The cake is packed with Greek yogurt, bananas, heart-healthy canola oil and gluten-free oat flour. If you don’t have oat flour you can just use the regular stuff, and that’s fine too!

There are days that are just perfect, and I had it happen this past Sunday. I can’t replicate that for you, but I can give you this cake recipe. It will make any day just a little bit better, and for little to no effort. So act like our friends across the pond and go for banoffee!

Everyone’s busy making holiday toffee, but I didn’t feel like taking out my candy thermometer and dusting it off. Dusting is boring. Instead, I cheated with these amazing cookie bars. You will not want to stop eating them, but that’s not really a problem.

Covered in butterscotch goodness and crushed toffee, I can’t imagine a better holiday cookie offering. I mean, I’ve made a lot of different bars this season, but this one is above the ordinary bar.

Last week, I took two days away from my job to take a class. It’s pretty much ingrained in teachers to want to keep learning, so we take a lot of classes.

Gotta be honest here: I kept losing focus while I was in class, which brought me back to my days in school. College and graduate school were fine because the classes were shorter, but this class made me remember what it’s like to sit all day while people make you work. It’s hell.

It’s kind of ironic for a teacher to be saying this, but I really don’t think we were meant to sit still all day. I’m lucky to have a very active job that lets me stand and move at will, but I think about people with desk jobs and I wonder how they don’t lose their minds. How do you sit in one place for eight hours or more and not completely lose it?

Today I’m grateful to be back in my classroom with my students, bopping around and getting stuff done. But I do feel for the kids I work with, who move from class to class without much of a break. It must be tough, and now I realize that my increased academic success in college probably had to do with more than just maturity. It probably had to do with getting more breaks and a chance to clear my head.

If I can’t get actual breaks in my day, at least there are snack breaks. And I always want my snacks to be of the highest possible caliber, so these butterscotch toffee bars fit the bill!

The base is my favorite cookie base of all time, which is heavy on the brown sugar for added moisture. It’s soft and pretty hard to stop eating. I slathered melted butterscotch chips on top and then sprinkled on chocolate toffee bits. Heaven, you guys. Just heaven.

This is one of those bar cookies that I had to give away immediately for fear of turning into a cookie monster. But it’s the holiday season, so everyone’s willing to eat some extra cookies for me! And I love spreading the cheer.

If you’re looking for the perfect butterscotch toffee fix, here it is. Look no further!

Have I mentioned that Passover is eight days long?

Yep. It started last Friday night and will end this Saturday night. I will be off all digital devices for the next couple of days in observance of the holiday, so I can’t wait to catch up with everyone Saturday night! I also can’t wait to eat sushi again on Saturday night. Back to normal food.

My son just told me that Passover is his favorite holiday, which made me happy. It means that all of my private angst about what to eat during this time hasn’t made its way over to him. I mean, sure, it’s hard to subsist on what could double as an extreme fad diet for eight days, but the kids really have fun with the holiday. And nothing is more rewarding than watching your children enjoy traditions.

Well, actually, frozen margaritas are pretty rewarding. So are trips to Tahiti. But yeah, sharing things with children is definitely cool, too.

Years ago, I went to a graduation party for one of my students, an exceptional young man who stood out as one of the kindest people I’ve ever taught. I asked his mother how she did it. How did she make him turn out so well? And her answer was as welcome as it was unexpected: she said that she and her husband had always shared their interests with their children.

At first, her answer confused me. Why would that make a difference? But a few years of thinking later, I get it. We share the things we love with our children in hope that they will form a bond with us and with generations both past and future. We teach them values, and we also teach them how to love the world around them. And the only way we can do that is by sharing our own loves. That’s why when I bake, I love having a child at my elbow, watching. And when I observe a holiday, I want them right there with me.

This final Passover recipe of the year on Just About Baked is simple, delicious, and classic. People make this as bark, or you can do what I’ve done and make the pieces much smaller using a crumbled version of matza known as farfel, resulting in handfuls of caramelly, buttery crunch. It’s as basic as recipes come, but sometimes, those are the best!

Thanks for putting up with me during this week of flour-free Passover baking. I’ll be back on Monday with my usual fare. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend, and spend it doing things you love. And, of course, sharing that love with other people.

Yep, JAB is my super-cool acronym for Just About Baked. Feel free to use it with all of your friends. Make it a thing.

After posting last week’s browned butter sandwich cookies, I kind of got into the flavor so much that I decided to create a whole week around the stuff. Why not? Remember, never answer that question. Just go with it. And first up today are these incredible, rich (Kenny’s word because all desserts are rich to him, the weirdo), yeast-free rolls.

Rules are meant to be broken, after all. Cinnamon rolls don’t need yeast. Anna doesn’t need the kiss of true love to save her from being frozen to death. And I definitely don’t need a few days off…nope, wait. I reallyreally do.

March is such a stupid month. There are no holidays that get us out of work and school (yes, I know I’ve gone on about this before), the temperatures are completely bipolar, and it’s work all the time. All work and no play makes me reach even more for cinnamon rolls. And look at pictures of beaches online.

But since I can’t have a day off, much less a beach vacation, these are the next best thing. Let me get warmed up here, because this dessert is so. Dang. Exciting.

The dough itself has browned butter in it. The filling has browned butter in it. And I’ve drizzled brown butter over the top before baking. Finally (drum roll, please), that’s browned butter glaze on top. And there are toffee bits in there! This is a view of the bottom, with all those toffee bits:

I tried to eat one bite. I really tried. I failed. Because as always, even though my rule is to taste my desserts but not eat them all, rules are meant to be broken. How could I stop at just a bite? These things are deadly.

So, for all you yeast-fearers out there, give these a stab. You won’t regret it, unless you’re trying not to eat too much these days. Then I can’t help you. But browned butter week lives on, so if you can’t beat ’em here on JAB (yes, I just did it again, sue me), join ’em!

The cookies and bars at beach town bake shops are so wonderfully homemade. No, I’m not counting Starbucks. These shops are owned independently, and you can taste the singularity of each baker’s products. It’s like they’ve baked their souls into their treats.

I’d like to believe that I do that, too. So these Heath Blondies represent the heart of what I love best in baking: caramelly, chewy amazingness. Because what else is there in life? Oh, except Reese’s.

Back to these bars. They’re super thick. I did that on purpose! There is nothing more depressing than a thin blondie. Who wants that? No, I’m not talking about people. I’m talking about dessert!

I used these awesome Heath drops as a mix-in. They are so good. Honestly, why didn’t Hershey think of this years ago?

And, of course, I used toffee bits, which have been around forever. Save a few of both the drops and the bits to sprinkle on top of the bars before baking. It’s so much prettier that way!

This recipe requires no mixer. You will be in total baker’s heaven. And the people you love will be able to taste your passion amid the chewy depths of these blondies. How’s that for an endorsement?

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 bag Heath drops (they look like Heath M & Ms)
• 1 cup Heath toffee bits

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil, leaving enough to overhang the sides, and coat in cooking spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Take a larger bowl and mix the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla until just blended. Add the dry ingredients gradually and mix until incorporated. Fold in most of the Heath drops and toffee bits.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining bits and drops on top evenly.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges are browned. The middle will jiggle slightly, but it will harden as the bars cool. Do not overbake. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Along with Entenmann’s chocolate frosted donuts. Man, do I yearn for those on an almost daily basis. But we’ll get into that one another day!

My mom baked these cookies once to twice a year when I was growing up, and I loved them. Toffee bars are pretty basic, and I love making different versions (like this Passover version, for instance). This is a dairy-free cookie recipe, but sometime I’ll share my butter-laden one with you, too!

The reason these bars work in so many different recipe versions is that the base is a cookie dough that’s baked flat and then covered in chocolate and almonds. If I’m doing a dairy version, I’ll also use Heath bits. But no matter how these bars are made, they rock!

Once the chocolate cools on the bars and hardens, you can cut them into even(ish) squares. I cut mine relatively small so I can pop several into my mouth in one sitting. Practical considerations here, people. If they were too big, I wouldn’t be able to eat as many!

These are also great for parties because one batch makes a ton of squares. I packed these up for a party and they held out for a good five minutes. With about 40 people in attendance, that’s not too shabby.

If you don’t like the taste of Earth Balance buttery sticks, use margarine. Its flavor is a little more subtle in these bars. And you can also opt to toast your almonds, but it’s by no means necessary. I believe in simplifying life as much as possible.

Whether or not toffee bars hearken to your childhood nostalgia, they’re a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. What could be better?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup margarine or similar product, softened (I used Earth Balance vegan sticks)
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (non-dairy)
• 1 and 1/2 cups sliced almonds, partially chopped (instructions below)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the margarine and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg yolk and extracts and mix again. Gradually add the flour, mixing until just incorporated.

Pat the cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, making a large rectangle. Don’t spread the dough to the edges of the pan, since it will thin out while baking. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle on the chocolate chips. Wait five minutes. While you’re waiting, put the almonds in a sealed baggie and pound a few times with a heavy object (I used the bottom of a sturdy plastic cup).

Using an offset spatula or knife, spread the melted chocolate evenly over the surface of the bars. Sprinkle on the almonds and let the chocolate set. If you’d like to speed up the chocolate hardening, put the pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Cut into squares and serve!

So as part of my Passover quest to bake desserts that taste as though they contain flour, I make these toffee bars annually as a tribute to my mother and as an excuse to eat one of my favorite cookies. They’re classic and the base is mainly ground almonds. Yay protein!

The key to making good dessert on Passover is avoiding matza meal as much as you can. This recipe uses some, but not an enormous amount. The almonds fill in that gap beautifully.

See? Lots of almond goodness. And there is a nice but not too thick cookie layer that gets balanced out really well with all that chocolate. The more chocolate the better, especially on Passover!

One of my favorite toffee bar elements is the little edge of the crust that crisps up so nicely. I’ve been known to break off the edges and leave the rest of the cookie there, pretending that it was always a bit smaller. Shh. Don’t tell anyone!

You can always toast the almonds that go on top if you like, but that’s an extra step I don’t feel like taking. It might make the cookies ever so slightly better, but you have to weigh that incremental improvement against time and effort. I don’t think it’s worth it.

What is worth it, though, is making these bars. They will disappear and the people will thank you!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup matza meal
• 1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup sliced almonds (I used blanched)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, vanilla, almond extract, and salt. Beat again. Slowly, add the ground almonds and matza meal until the ingredients are mixed and the dough is stiff.

Press the dough evenly into the cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are golden and the middle is puffed up a bit.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the crust and wait for five minutes. Then, using a knife or offset spatula, spread the chocolate over the crust. Sprinkle on the almonds.

Let the cookies cool and then place the pan in the refrigerator to harden the chocolate completely, about 20-30 minutes. Using a sharp knife, cut the cookies into even squares. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.