Well, you might not realize that if you don’t live near an east coast beach town. For those of us who are in the know about boardwalk treats, we get the joy of candy shops with thick slabs of fudge for sale everywhere. It can’t be beat!

I’m not due to hit the beach for another month or so, and I could just throw up my hands in despair and decide to wait. Or I could make this rocky road fudge, which takes about five minutes to put together and tastes oh so beachy!

For her birthday a few weeks ago, we gave my daughter a doll and a tricked-out stroller. She really wanted an American Girl doll, but I mean, come on. They’re a hundred bucks a pop, and that’s before clothes and accessories. Plus, she’s a child. Can she really take care of a hundred dollars’ worth of anything? We had doubts.

I’m glad we got her the cheaper doll, since she’s been dragging it around by its hair or swinging it by its arms. I feel really badly for the poor doll. She’s probably wondering why she had the rotten luck of being adopted by this crazy family.

The other day, my mother brought over the doll cradle that I used when I was growing up, and I was actually surprised to see that it was in pretty good condition. But then I got to thinking about it, and I took pretty good care of my toys. I was never neat, and I was certainly no angel of a child. But somehow, the toys stayed nice.

With my kids, it’s a totally different story. They’re not precisely destructive, but they’re not good at understanding how caring for something lengthens shelf life. So in yet another episode of Mir’s Mom Guilt, I ask you: how to create learning opportunities for them? Short of confiscating all their toys, that is?

I’d like to see somebody try and confiscate anything of mine. I’d be pretty fierce. Especially if they were trying to take away dessert. Not happening!

Whenever I’m in a hurry, I make fudge. Seriously. The whole thing takes less than five minutes, thanks to our good friend, Mr. Microwave. And after the requisite chill time, it’s time to dig in!

This fudge is loaded with mini-marshmallows, walnuts and lots of chocolatey goodness. Your inner rocky road fanatic will be quite pleased!

If you can’t get to a beach town this summer, here’s the next best thing. Give it a shot!

But you see, kids, I love holidays. Before holidays, there was darkness and cold. Holidays bring sprinkles and light. So you can bet that Irish or not, I’m getting into my St. Patrick’s baking groove.

But before I do that, I want to take a minute to remember Mr. Spock. As you know, Leonard Nimoy passed away a few days ago, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t say anything about him. Because, though you may not suspect it, I used to be kind of in love with him.

No joke. I think I was about eight at the time and firmly entrenched in my Star Trek phase. I even had a uniform, that of the ubiquitous red-clad anonymous officer who always winds up getting killed in every episode. I went to conventions. I memorized all 79 original episodes. And yes, I thought that Spock was a lot sexier than Kirk.

Though both my childhood crush on Spock and my obsession with the show both ended by the time I hit adolescence, I still love the show and anything connected to it, especially Leonard Nimoy. When he showed up in the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movies I got super pumped, and I say with absolute sincerity that he left the world a different and better place than he found it.

I realize all this has nothing to do with my St. Patrick’s treat today, but you know, my mind jumps around. Doesn’t yours?

These are the first Rice Krispies treats I’ve posted on my blog, and why? Well, honestly, because everyone can make Rice Krispies treats and they’re as old as America itself. But when you shape them like shamrocks and dip them in white chocolate melts dyed green, that’s another matter entirely.

Oh, and the sprinkles. Did I mention the sprinkles? I ordered them special from Amazon. They’re Wilton brand. Wilton, I love you. If you ever want me to do promotional posts for you, call me. I use your stuff and promote it for free, though, including your holiday-themed sprinkles.

And you know, shamrock krispy treats are strangely appealing to anyone who comes across them. I saw so many pairs of eyes light up at the sight of these lucky little treats that I’m convinced even more that holidays need to be celebrated with food. Not that I really needed to be persuaded of that.

So even though I’m not Irish, enjoy these. I’ll have more to come as we get closer to the big day! And to all my fellow Star Trek fans out there, I can only say:

Live Long and Prosper.

Well, not love, exactly. But if you watch the series Once Upon a Time, which I’ve been binge-watching with Kenny on Netflix, you’re aware that their version of Hook is a heckuva lot sexier than the guy from the Disney movie. I mean, there’s no comparison.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, think Westley from The Princess Bride. This Hook is very similar, but with a bad guy streak. I’m super sold on him. If only I could win him over with my baking. But then, Kenny might not like that.

Anyway, I recommend the show, and I recommend Hook. And I also highly encourage you to try these s’mores bars. They’re something special!

Instead of using straight up flour, I put a hefty dose of graham cracker crumbs into the dough to give it a more authentic s’more flavor. I wasn’t sure what would happen, quite frankly. But you know what? All’s well that ends well!

In order to add to the drama of the bars, I left the Hershey bar pieces whole and cut several large marshmallows (well, regular-sized, not mini) in half and pressed them into the dough. With a little more dough on top, I could almost imagine myself by a campfire. The only problem is, when I baked these, it was 15 degrees out. So no campfire yet!

These bars are made in one bowl without a mixer. And they come together really fast. The only challenge is waiting until they’re cool. Otherwise, chocolate and marshmallow melt all over you. Well, actually, that’s a good thing!

And you can eat them while watching Hook do his thing on Once Upon a Time. He’s more than satisfactory eye candy, and you should always have a good snack handy anyway. Besides, if you get a really good heat lamp into the bargain, you can pretend it’s actually s’mores weather. Sounds like heaven to me!

Take my husband, for instance. I knew him for 7 years before we even thought about dating. I mean, it’s not like I never noticed him. He was super adorable. How could I not? But for some reason, it just didn’t click for quite some time that he was the man I was meant to be with. Luckily, we both figured it out.

I feel the same way about these brownies, though on a slightly less major level. I’ve made brownies for years. I’ve loved rocky road anything for years. Why have I never done this?

These are incredible. Rich, fudgy (and gluten-free too, though you’ll never know it), dense brownies packed with marshmallows, walnuts and chocolate chips, topped off with more of the same. Let’s just say that if these brownies don’t do it for you, nothing will. I mean that most sincerely.

If you don’t have oat flour and have no problem with gluten, just use flour. I need to bake gluten-free a lot for Kenny (my aforementioned soul mate) so that he doesn’t start eating the kids’ snacks and get sick. But you can use flour. Either way, you won’t notice a difference!

If you can wait to cut these, I’ll admire your restraint. If you can’t, you’ll get a lot of melty chocolate and marshmallow pulling at your knife. I managed to hold back until all was cool, but I had the pictures to think of. You have no such restriction!

If you’ve ever had anything staring you in the face for years before you finally saw the light, you need to make these. This recipe is easy, quick, fun and the best moment of enlightenment I’ve had this month!