No-Butter Nutty Rice Crispie Treats aka Avalanche Bars

This week I realized that I had two care packages to send off. One for a friend in Colorado who was an AMAZING host a few weeks ago, and another for the boyfriend’s little sister whose 22nd birthday is next week.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet (as though more than my three faithful friends are reading this), but my part-time job in college was—that’s right—a counter girl at a local gourmet chocolate and sweets shop. Did I eat so much that I would have been the store’s best customer had I actually paid for any of it? Obviously. While it was no good for my morality as an employee (The truth: One does not get sick of chocolate when surrounded by it every day), I spent my days surrounded by caramels, dipped strawberries, truffles and creative concoctions like triple-dipped chocolate pretzels and tiger bark (Don’t. Even. Ask.).

One of my favorite chocolate-shop confections (that I’ve made regularly up through today) is one that we called Avalanche Bars. These nutty treats put a spin on traditional rice crispie squares by filling them with a natural disaster’s worth of marshmallows and mini-chocolate chips, held together by—not butter—peanut butter.

Send these in a care package and the recipient with definitely feel the love—no matter how far they’ve got to travel.

Berry Breakfast Scone Cookies

Scones have been one those gorgeous breakfast pastries that that I’ve had to learn to live without since becoming lactose intolerant. Well, now I can have my digestive health and my scones, too. Inspired by a raspberry scone recipe in the bible of all vegan and gluten-free cookbooks, Babycakes, I decided to whip up a version of the classic pastry sans cream and butter. Since it’s not quite summer, and I didn’t have any fresh berries on hand, I used some organic frozen blueberries and raspberries. Any mixture of fresh or frozen berries would work.

Also, these aren’t technically scones—I decided not to bother with the whole cutting and shaping process. These no-regrets, dairy-free scones look more like cookies, but they have the light and fulfilling texture and fresh flavor of a satisfying morning pastry.

The one rule that you absolutely must, must, MUST stick by: Do not overmix!

Blueberry Streusel-Topped Squares

Baking these fruity bars got me excited the way baking is supposed to—a few relatively easy steps left me with a fresh-tasting, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that looks gorgeous on the plate (though you may not be able to tell this from my sorry photography skills). And that vegan butter I was talking about last week? I’m officially a huge fan. I used it in these cookies and they came out rich and, well—for lack of a better word—buttery, like shortbread is supposed to taste. All it takes is whipping up a single type of dough for the top and bottom layers and cooking up a fruit filling while the crust cooks. Easy as pie. I mean, uh, cookie bars.