I mean, there was good reason for it. When my father had a triple bypass relatively early in my life, my mother overhauled the kitchen. If there had been butter before, it was gone forever. So I never knew what it tasted like, much less how it could elevate a baked good.

Believe me, I’m making up for lost time here. This is my favorite cookie bar base, which has very few ingredients, so it’s easy to throw together as well as delicious. I’ve filled it with milk chocolate chips and spread melted milk chocolate on top. Really, life doesn’t get much better than this.

With Passover approaching in five days, I have to enjoy the good desserts while I can. It is possible to have delicious baked goods on Passover (which I’ll be sharing via my Passover Edition in coming posts), but working without standard flour is a real challenge.

Enough of that. I’ve done my complaining about Passover, so I’ll now transition to complaining about germs. In a family my size, they hop from one person to another and then back, sickening everyone. And they’re typically viral germs, which means there’s no quick solution or cure.

Over the past month, we’ve been in the land of strep, followed by flu, followed by an unidentifiable sickness that looks and acts a lot like flu. Just as soon as someone recovers, someone else goes down. It’s making me wish I’d sprung for the hospital-grade thermometer instead of the reasonably priced one at CVS that kinda sorta works.

Luckily, outside temps are finally in the upper 70s to low 80s, which means I’ve flung open the windows to let the germs out and the fresh air in. I can see a change coming, everyone. The good days will be upon us any day now, and there will be sunshine and health and cheer. I’m so excited.

In no time at all, the school year will be ending and I’ll be getting ready for yet another summer of fun. While my favorite part of teaching is actually being in the classroom, a nice perk is looking forward to the long, lazy days of summer. It’ll be nice to have a change of pace away from all the germs.

To celebrate prematurely, I’ve got these bars. They’re keeping me company this week as our fridge empties for Passover and switches from standard food to what-in-the-heck-is-that. I’m bringing these to work with me, but I’m not sharing. They’re too good for that.

As is my habit, I’ve used milk chocolate chips. As much as I love all chocolate, I have a special place in my heart for the creaminess of milk. It makes so many desserts just a little bit better.

I hope that your life is free of disease right now and that you’re barreling toward summer with as much joy as I am. Here’s to a good week, everyone!

I’ll be honest with you: I have very mixed feelings about the holidays. They seem to be an elaborate ruse to guide us toward winter with enthusiasm, where we’re left in January with bare trees, chilly mornings and frozen windshields. But on the other hand, those lights sure are pretty.

While I don’t celebrate Christmas, I can get down with gingerbread anything. That includes these gingerbread cookie cheesecake bars, which are both easy and festive. They’re also studded with cinnamon chips, one of my favorite baking inventions.

Here’s my pet peeve of the week: ready? People in parking lots with no manners.

When I was a kid, it was common courtesy (not to mention a safety practice) to drive through parking lots slowly, allowing for the possibility that either a person or a car would appear in your path. I very strongly remember a time when, if a person were pulling out of a parking spot, someone driving past them would respectfully stop and wait for them to finish coming out of the space, letting them go first.

Now, cars shoot through the lots at high speed, and if someone is coming out of a space, they typically swerve around that person and continue on their merry way. I’ve seen more than a few people almost killed by this practice. And aside from being dangerous, it’s also downright rude.

Plus, we all know how hard it is to see what’s behind us in parking lots. My head is always swiveling like crazy, trying to see everything at the same time. As much as I love Trader Joe’s, backing out of a parking space in that jammed little lot terrifies me. My car isn’t fancy enough for one of those rear-view cameras, which I hear really help.

This holiday season, let’s all begin by not just being kinder and more generous in person, but also by letting someone back out of their f-ing parking space. Can we all just do that for one person? Great. Rant concluded.

The last time I was at Trader Joe’s, I picked up some of their refrigerated gingerbread cookie dough. It formed the base for these lovely bars. On top went a layer of simple cheesecake batter with cinnamon chips, and I added some caramel sauce for bling. Mission accomplished. Yet another holiday bar option to celebrate and enjoy!

Bar cookies are my favorite, in case you haven’t figured that out by now. But they’re especially marvelous this time of year, because they pack and go very easily. Perfect for potluck holiday parties!

Whether or not you see winter looming this holiday season, be sure to fill it with good cookies and even better parking lot etiquette. It’ll guarantee you points with Santa or whatever higher power you believe in!