Peanut butter and chocolate: it’s a match made in candyland heaven, no? Yes. Perhaps the simplest and most enduring commercial manifestation of this tasty pairing is in Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups,  a peanut butter-filled chocolate candy created way back in 1928 by Harry Burnett Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman to Milton S. Hershey (yes, that Hershey).

We’re a few days into 2011, and it’s back to the grindstone. After a season of ultra rich, fatty and sugary foods, and lots of festive cheer, most of us are ready to turn a perennial new leaf of increased activity and healthier foods. As a nod to these well-intentioned resolutions — and an inclination to bake some healthy, tasty, high fiber snacks for my family — I’ve whipped up a batch of these delicious, nut-free granola bars.

My infatuation with cinnamon rolls began in high school. I am a little ashamed to admit that instead of a wholesome, nourishing meal, at lunchtime I would instead shell out $1.50 to the high school cafeteria for one of their home-baked (or I guess it would be “school-baked”) cinnamon rolls. They were simple enough: warm and doughy, chewy and sweet, drizzled with a thick, white, sugary frosting, and — as one might expect — cinnamony.

These lovely confections — which happen to be my father’s favorite Christmas cookie — go by many names: thumbprint cookies, Swedish tea cakes, and bird’s nest cookies, to name a few. But whatever moniker you give them, you will surely call them delicious.