If you are getting excited, join me. I’m pretty psyched about these. You see, I’ve never been much of a muffin girl. To me, a muffin is a cupcake without frosting. Yes, I know that’s technically wrong, but whatever.

When a muffin gets to emulate one of my favorite dessert bars, though, I’m down. These are the best dang muffins I’ve had in many a day.

Breakfast is very much about sweet cravings for me. I went through a period of making little egg muffins that were super-healthy and packed with veggies for my morning meal. They were definitely satiating, but there is a huge difference between being full and being satisfied.

Ever wonder why you eat when you’re full? It’s because you’re not satisfied, and that is very much an in-your-head kind of problem. I spent years chomping on sugar-free gum to get that sweet fix after a meal when it would have been much more practical to eat some chocolate. It just took me a while to realize that being full doesn’t mean that I should automatically be happy with my meal.

Every day, I see people at work eating the lunches they think they should eat, not the lunches they want to eat. The result? A lack of satisfaction, of course, which leads to after-work snacking and dinners that are less than ideal. We’re so busy thinking about what we should be eating that we’ve forgotten to listen to our own bodies.

My body wants sugar in the morning, so I finally gave up the egg muffins and usually, breakfast is a protein bar that has either chocolate or peanut butter flavors, if not both. The protein bar is processed, but it fills me up and, more important, I don’t feel like running toward the nearest cookie after it’s eaten.

Not that I don’t eventually get my cookie. I’ve learned that listening to my cravings is essential for keeping things in balance. But if I can have a cookie with lunch, and some chocolate between lunch and dinner, I don’t need that gum.

Believe me, I’m no dietary expert or nutritionist. But common sense dictates that saying no to food will send you rushing toward forbidden fruit faster than a Kardashian rushes to a plastic surgeon.

And I can’t say no to all the food I make. These peanut butter blondie muffins are a classic example. I bake them and think they’ll be great but resistible, and then I try them. Needless to say, when I shared these at work, they went fast. One coworker kept trying to eat pieces, and then she threw in the towel and ate the whole muffin. And maybe another one. Because that’s what dessert demands!

These are a one-bowl deal, and about as easy as it gets. But  be advised: these muffins are not healthy. They are based in peanut butter chips, not peanut butter. So don’t for a second think that you’re getting your daily protein. Nope. That’s for your meals. This is dessert!

If I’d frosted these, they would have been cupcakes, maybe. But they also would’ve been too much. These have just the right amount of sweetness, and they’re packed with both milk chocolate and peanut butter chips. If you can stop at one half, you have more self-control than I do.

Eating is a delicate balance, but I have to believe that the right way to begin is by saying yes. Yes to being satisfied, yes to being happy, yes to being open to possibilities. Otherwise, the joy of food disappears. And that is just a shame.