I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve had some healthier options on the blog lately. I think it has something to do with the pressure of bikini season being upon us, but it also has to do with feeling good. See, it’s totally possible to eat delicious desserts without loading in a ton of butter.

But a little bit for brown butter glaze? Heck yeah. And the bread is full of zucchini, so it all balances out!

I’m teaching until June 21st, which means that while summer is coming, it’s arriving very slowly. For instance, my school system added a day onto the year to make up for a snowstorm, but from a practical perspective, I wonder how much work gets done on that additional day. Do you think it makes a difference?

I read about a company somewhere that doesn’t keep track of worker hours. Instead, employees are held accountable for the quality of their work. If jobs get done on time and well, nobody has any questions. To me, a system like that makes a whole lot of sense.

At the same time, I get why people would be freaked out by an idea like that. While the accountability is there, it’s harder to keep track of everybody and everything, especially if they might not physically be on the premises. But still, I really like the idea. It just seems logical to judge people by their work, not by how many hours they hang out in a location.

That’s why snow day makeups in the summer don’t make much sense to me. We’ve finished grades, cleaned our classrooms, closed out the school year, and all that jazz. Why keep us there? I don’t mind a lot, but it seems a little silly.

Snow day makeups aside, I can always tell by the desserts I bake what time of year it is. Zucchini are getting huge, so we might as well use them (and their delightful moisture) to good use.

If you’ve ever cooked with zucchini, you’ve probably noticed that it packs a ton of moisture. While that can be annoying if you’re trying to  brown it for a stir-fry, it works perfectly in a quick bread. Before I even knew what zucchini was, I was a sucker for the texture of zucchini bread.

And those flecks of green? Just lie to your kids and say they’re soft sprinkles. I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Sometimes the quality of our work doesn’t correlate with how many hours we spend at work (in either direction), but at least we’re slowly creeping  toward summer. It’ll get here, I promise!

This gingerbread bundt cake is a winter spice wonder. It’s moist, soft, and oh so perfect for Christmas. And since I don’t do Christmas, I’ll just eat it all anyway.

As a perk, this cake is finished off with brown butter icing. It’s pretty much the best cake ever. No bias here, of course!

I’m working on cozy holiday plans, and I’m very excited to curl up with my kids by the fire later this week while we watch movies. It’ll be great.

Just as exciting, the D.C. area is poised for 75-degree temps this Christmas Eve. Heck yeah! If we don’t get a white Christmas, can we get a tropical one instead? I’m down with that. It might be global warming, but let’s not talk about that right now.

This week, I’m still chugging away at work. Most school districts all over the country are on winter break, but my school system is insisting on three days of instruction this week, which means I will work through Wednesday and then run for the hills. It’s not that bad, except that people keep asking me how much I’m enjoying vacation, and I have to tell them that nope, not there yet. Gone are the days when winter break was two weeks long!

Okay, enough kvetching. I’ll talk about cake instead. Glorious, glorious cake.

This cake has all the elements of gingerbread: molasses, cinnamon, ginger, and lots of love. But it’s a cake, and it’s way too easy to eat about three slices at once. I don’t have gingerbread often, but when I do, I take it very seriously.

The brown butter icing takes just a few minutes to make, and it’s the perfect rich accompaniment to a dark, spicy cake. I can’t recommend it enough!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my next foray into food film. Until then, enjoy all the holiday sugar you can!

In bars, to be specific. Soft, lovely blondies. If we’re talking dangerous, these squares of heaven are it.

Not that you should run away now. Come closer. Take a look!

This fall, I’ve been all about celebrating the flavors that make these months stand out. Sure, there’s pumpkin and apple, but there’s also butterscotch. And cinnamon! Seriously, in the autumn, there is no better spice. It’s everywhere, and we just forget how important it is.

In general, people are inclined to take things for granted. It’s only natural. That’s why I try  really hard to be grateful for not just the material things in my life, like my iPad (oh, how I love you), but for the people as well.

Just in case I’ve never mentioned it, I’m married to the nicest, most patient man in the universe. Back when I was little, my dad used to tell me something like, “Never marry a man who won’t cross the desert just to get you a Coke.” Maybe I’m misquoting a bit. But the idea was, my dad wanted me to wind up with a guy who would go to any lengths to make me happy.

When I first started dating Kenny, I kept waiting for that thing to happen where about six months into being with a guy, they stop exerting themselves quite so much for you, and then it just keeps fading until the relationship loses that glow. Well, it never happened. I’ve known Kenny for half my life and our ten-year wedding anniversary is coming up this year. He’s never stopped treating me like a queen.

So you’d better bet that I’m grateful. I make a concerted effort never to take him for granted and to be the best wife ever. But yesterday I was kind of snappy, and he just took it with his usual good humor. How amazing is that? I wish I could be that cool.

Anyway, I try not to take anyone for granted. Not Kenny, not our children, not my family, not my friends, not fellow bloggers. We only do this once! Let’s do it up right, and with appreciation.

Boy, do I appreciate these bars. Enormously and endlessly. They’re comforting and full of cinnamon and brown buttery goodness. Plus, they’re full of cinnamon chips. If you can’t get them at the store, you can buy them online. I get them on Amazon, home of all shopping glee.

You won’t believe the softness of these guys. They have cornstarch in them, which makes them pillowy soft. Whatever you do, take the blondies out of the oven as indicated, or trust me, they won’t be as good. The key to a good blondie is underbaking them just a touch.

When you’re done, you’ll have a dessert you can appreciate. We should never take any delicious food for granted, starting with these bad boys!

This morning, I crossed an important item off my life bucket list: stand up paddleboarding, or SUP, as it’s known to the cooler masses. It felt really good to face my terror and prevail. More on that in a moment.

I figure that as long as I continue to face the challenges that scare me, it’s okay to ease up in other parts of life. Baking has always been that place of respite for me, and this apple cake is no exception. It’s quick, simple, and slathered in an unbelievable brown butter icing.

A couple of years ago, I started seeing pictures of celebrities in my trashy magazines doing something that looked like so much fun. It was SUP, only I didn’t know anything about it at the time. It just seemed so peaceful: standing up on a board with an oar, bonding with nature or the water or whatever. I didn’t really think it through much more, since I figured it was one of those things that people in L.A. do that people in D.C. don’t have access to.

Last summer, I learned that SUP lessons were available right off the Key Bridge in Georgetown, which is a very frou-frou area of the city. Georgetown is full of expensive shops including, of course, the famous Georgetown Cupcake. Want a hint from a local? Next time you’re in town, head toward Baked and Wired instead. It’s also in Georgetown, and it’s worth the trip.

Anyway, this summer I bit the bullet (or paddleboard) and signed Kenny and me both up for a lesson. We were supposed to go a month ago, but then we had a traumatic tubing incident and my body was too sore to do any SUP action just a couple of days later. Our lesson date was moved to September, and I tried not to think too much about the terror.

Good thing too, guys. I didn’t fully allow myself to realize the horror of our situation until we were on the water, leashed onto the board, being told to stand up and look at the horizon. I had two choices: stay on my knees and whimper, or just woman up and do it. Guess which one I picked?

You’ll be happy to learn that over the course of the two hours on the water, I got up and down several times without falling over once. It was scary, and I’m not going to lie. It was very, very far from being relaxing. But it was worth it, and I’m so glad I did it. I’m also so glad that there was apple cake to come home to.

This cake mixes up in one bowl, and it’s absolutely no-fail. To dress it up a little, I added the icing, which just required some brown butter for flair. To make brown butter, cook the butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat, swirling the butter often, for anywhere between five and 10 minutes, depending on how much butter is in the pan. When the butter starts to darken in color and smell nutty, it’s done.

Not everything in life can be so simple, but baking should not be a place where you feel any stress. Save it for the open water as you’re wobbling around on a SUP. That’s where you can face the real fears!