Theoretically, we’re halfway through the summer after July 4th. But since the school year here didn’t end until June 20th, we’re not at the halfway mark yet. Nope, no siree! It’s in the 90s, my schedule is more flexible, and I’m getting in lots of quality family time!

There’s something really satisfying about hanging out with everyone when the weather is hot. We can log in lazy pool days, enjoy evenings in the cul de sac after dinner blowing bubbles with all the extra sunlight, and stop looking at the clock so much. We can also pause for afternoon ice cream snacks, and let’s face it. Those are the best. Right now my freezer is fully stocked with EDY’S® Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream and EDY’S® Baby Ruth Ice Cream, and they’re getting a lot of attention. How could they not, when they’re inspired by two of my favorite candy bars?

Since you all know I’m the biggest bargirl ever when it comes to baking, I made a batch of Butterfinger® cookie bars to go along with my ice cream. There’s pretty much no greater combination in life than a good dessert bar and a bowl of ice cream.

The other day, my middle kid had her birthday weekend. She was born right before July 4th, which means that the doctors didn’t bother us at all in the hospital after she was born. They literally ran off to picnics and barbecues, leaving us behind. In fact, the doctor who delivered her met his wife that night at a party. It was a strangely tranquil weekend, and I remember just relaxing with my newborn and eating an entire package of cookies. Hey, I’d earned it.

What struck me at the time was how important family is to everyone, even busy-seeming hospital staff. I mean, the place was nearly deserted. There aren’t many times of year when people just clear a place and head home en masse, but summertime is when we all want to be together. The summer nights might be long, but the months pass quickly. Actually, so do the years. That newborn is now six years old, and she’s not a baby anymore.

Thankfully, she’s someone whom I also like as well as love, and we have a lot in common. One is our endless fondness for ice cream. When she saw the containers of EDY’S® Ice Cream in the freezer, she knew that the best kind of Walmart trip had just taken place.  We took out spoons and had a snack moment together, just my birthday girl and her proud mommy. Plus, I feel a lot better about sharing ice cream with my kids when it’s made with fresh milk & cream with no rBST (milk production hormone). This ice cream is so good, and it has the good stuff in it too!

To go along with our ice cream, I made these Butterfinger cookie bars. The base is a chewy peanut butter cookie, and then I filled the dough with chopped up fun-sized candy bars. I even crumbled some more Butterfinger on top for the perfect finish!

When paired with EDY’S® Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream, these cookie bars make the perfect summer snack. It’s even better during these long summer days that we all spend together. Take some time out with the people you love! This is the time, y’all.

So hard to answer a question for which there’s no good answer. The reason is, of course, because I just never got around to it. And now that I have, I’m embarrassed at how long it took.

I mean, it’s a Butterfinger. They’re so happy. Why would anyone ever leave them out on purpose? Especially when they can go into brownie bites? And I’m not talking about those mediocre brownie bites you buy at Costco in the container. Nuh-uh. These blow those sad little stand-ins for a baked good out of the water, and then some.

If I’ve seemed out of the loop for the past few days, it’s because a string of Jewish holidays forces me to be away from all things digital on and off for a month. It sounds nice in theory, but the massive amounts of work that pile up while I’m sitting in a hut in my backyard eating meals, even in the rain (don’t ask) doesn’t exactly put me in the holiday kind of mood.

Religions have varying levels of celebrating, and if you’re like me, you find yourself celebrating an awful lot of the time. So when Christmas rolls around and everyone gets so excited about the holiday season, I get excited that somebody else is making huge meals and buying lots of fancy paper goods and having relatives to stay over. Because it’s not me. On Christmas Day, I do nothing. And it’s such a relief. That’s probably why Christmas is my favorite holiday. That and the really fun caroling. Caroling is delightful.

Tell me if you get this: when we were kids, holidays were fun and exciting. And if we have kids, it’s pretty neat to watch them get excited. But. They’re just so much wooooork. If given the choice, I would take all the money we spend on holidays, from groceries to gifts, and use that as a payment toward a family flight to the tropics. Now that would be a holiday worth celebrating.

But since that’s not happening anytime soon (I think our extended family might revolt if we disappeared for a string of holidays to go bake in the sun somewhere), I have to find reasons to celebrate that don’t involve a lot of work. So hello, Butterfinger brownie bites!

It’s so simple, really. Chopped Butterfinger bars get nestled into brownie batter, topped with crushed Butterfingers, and baked. It takes no time to get to brownie bliss. Like I said, no idea why this didn’t happen sooner.

Sometimes we forget to celebrate the little things because we’re so busy paying attention to larger holidays. But in a season of candy joy (isn’t Halloween coming sometime soon-ish?), nothing is better than remembering how fantastic it is to bake candy bars into anything.