Tag Archives: Home baking

#Recipe Peanut Butter Cream Pie

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If you’ve read my previous post on Toronto you may remember me mentioning a favourite restaurant there – The Gabardine. (If you haven’t you can read it here). One of the desserts I had the pleasure of trying was a Peanut Butter Cream Pie. I had never had it before and had no idea what it was but it sure sounded good. And boy, I was not disappointed! I can only describe it as a lighter version of a cheesecake with moreish peanut buttery goodness abound. Ever since then I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind and so set about trying to receate it. Not to detract from chef Graham Pratt’s original of course- the best form of flattery is, afterall, imitation.

For me this is one of those dishes that is truly evocative of a time in my life. One bite and I’m instantly back in the bright buttermilk interior of The Gabrdine, smelling herby puff pastry and smoked ham, cheeks gently puckering from a chilled Sauvignon, all the while watching the Torontonian business clique milling back to their desks. Typing this oddly stirs subtle pangs almost of homesickness. I hope to get back there some day- and hopfully try another slice of pie!

So with it being Peanut Butter Lovers Day today (seriously who decides these things?) it’s the perfect time for posting the recipe for my version of it.

Peanutbutter Cream Pie- Recipe Image

For the Pie

250g Digestive biscuits
5 tablespoons Melted butter
50g Demerara sugar
75g Salted peanuts
160g Icing suga
280g Cream cheese
230g Smooth peanut butter
230ml Double cream, lighlty whipped

To finish

150ml Double cream, whipped

You’ll also need a 9″ x 1″ or 1.5″ deep circular pie dish

  • In a food processor blend the digestive biscuits, Demerara sugar and salted peanuts.
  • Whilst blitzing drizzle in the melted butter. Blitz to rough breadcrumbs stage.
  • Pour into a pie dish and press into the base and sides using a metal spoon.
  • Place the crumb lined pie dish into the refrigerator to set at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
  • In a stand mixer blend the icing sugar and cream cream until smooth.
  • Add in the smooth peanut butter and mix again to combine.
  • Gently fold in the whipped cream. Don’t stir too much as this will whip the cream even more and make the filling “heavy”.
  • When the whipped cream is fully folded in, pour/ spoon the filling into the set crumb base, and smooth the top.Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
  • When ready to serve remove from the fridge and top with the remaining whipped cream.
  • Slice, and serve (with additional whipped cream if you really want to treat yoursefl!)

Wired for Sound! #recipe #brownies

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So this morning saw me chatting to the imitable food presence that is William Sitwell on his “Biting Talk” show on Soho Radio. Some of you may recognise him from such things as the Mastechef food critics table, or from Waitrose Kitchen magazine. By the by, conversation ranged from cupcakes (of course!) to beards (well why not) to cartoon franchising (you’ll just have to listen for that one!) If you missed out here’s the link below for you aural delectation…

As only expected for #thebeardedbaker I brought along some baked goods for sampling. Yes, I know it was only 9am in the morning but (a bit like gin!) it’s always cake o’clock somehwere in there world. So the team at Soho Radio had the pleasure (I hope!) of trying out two new recipes for brownies and cupcakes-

cupcakes

My “Hot n Smoky” caramel cupcakes of caramel sponge filled with a smoked caramel centre, topped with caramel buttercream frosting and sriracha cinder toffee shards.


Brownies

Chocolate  Cherry & Cheesecake Brownies- Chocolate, Cherry and double-chocolate brownies topped with White Chocolate & Pink Peppercorn Cheescake

In the event that these have piqued your intrest and tingled your tastebuds here’s the recipe for the Chocolate Cherry brownies. Do bear in mind that these are exceptionally rich- a chocolate motherload not for the faint-hearted! As such I recommend cutting them down into half the traditional brownie size.

Chocolate Cherry & Pink Peppercorn Cheesecake Brownies
Makes 18 (deep pan) or 40 (shallow pan)

Ingredients
185g unsalted butter 185g, cubed
185g 70% cocoa dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 eggs
275g caster sugar
85g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
1 tbsp Espresso powder
50g 70% cocoa dark chocolate chunks
50g white chocolate chunks
100g glace cherries, halved
1 egg
280g cream cheese
60g caster sugar
3 tbsp pink peppercorns, lightly crushed
50g white chocolate chunks

Method

  • Set your oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line a deep 12″x9″ baking tray with baking parchment. * See note for brownie numbers
  • Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (or bain-marie), stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
  • Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture is thickened and fluffy.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and espresso powder.
  • Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.
  • Sieve in the dry ingredients, and fold together.
  • Fold in the chocolate chunks and cherries until well combined.
  • Pour your mixture into the lined tray and gently spread to level the surface.
  • For the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese, caster sugar, and egg in a separate bowl until smooth.
  • Melt the white chocolate (either over hot water or in a microwave in short bursts).
  • Add the pink peppercorns and melted chocolate into the cheesecake mixture and mix well.
  • Pour/ place blobs of the cheesecake mixture on top of the chocolate brownie mixture.
  • Swirl with a knife or a skewer to create a marbled effect throughout the batter
  • Place in the oven for 35-40 minutes, then leave to cool completely in the tin before removing from the tin or cutting into squares.
  • Leave to cool, then serve.

*If you use a 12” x 9” tin you will get 20 brownies (cutting 4 x 5) and then divide further down in half to give you 40 brownie “bars”. If you use a 9” x 9” silicone brownie pan (available from Lakleand) you’ll get 9 deeper brownies which you can cut down in half to give you 18 brownie “bars”.

 

#Recipe Ricotta Pancakes- 3 ways

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Pancake Tuesday to me is synonymous with one flavour conbination- Jif Lemon and sugar. Not caster sugar but granulated, and heaven forbid the juice be fresh. Nay! It had to come from a plastic lemon of the sqeezable variety.  This cheek-puckering combination of crunchy sugar and citrus instantly bringing back childhood memories of playground squabbles about the quantities of pancakes consumed before school. Who cared of it was only 11am!?! Somehow you had persuaded your parents to let you scoff gargantuan amounts of fried batter for breakfast. Times have changed and I now realise there is more to life than lemon juice and sugar- just about! So here’s my recipe for ricotta pancakes with a variety of serving suggestions. Try one…or try them all! Either way I hope you enjoy.

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Ricotta Pancakes

200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 large egg, beaten
200ml whole milk
250g tub ricotta cheese
1 tbsp rapeseed oil

  • Put the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.
  • Make a well in the middle, then pour in the egg and a splash of milk.
  • Gradually mix the flour into the liquid until starting to combine.
  • Mix in the rest of the milk in three stages until you have a smooth batter, then beat in the ricotta with a whisk.
  • Heat the rapeseed oil in a large non-stick frying pan until hot.
  • Spoon in a small laddle full of batter, spaced well apart, to make pancakes about 10cm across.
  • Cook on medium heat for 2-3 mins until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip over with a palette knife and cook for 2-3 more mins until golden. Set aside and keep warm; cook the rest of the batter.
  • Stack the pancakes, with baking parchment between, and keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

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1 ways- Spiced Orange

150ml orange juice

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek

1/2 teaspoon caraway seed

4 cardamom pods, crushed

1 large orange, sliced

Caster sugar

  • Gently warm the spices in a pan until the frangrance is released.
  • Add in the orange juice and caster sugar.
  • Continue to gently heat until the sugar is disolved. Set aside to cool and infuse before use.
  • While the sauce is cooling, sprinkle the orange slices with caster sugar. Using a cook’s torch, carmalise the sugar on the slices until the sugar is bubbling, burnished and a deep amber in color. Alternatley you can heat under a high grill until the sugar reaches the same stage as with the torch.
  • Arrange a copule of slices of orange on top of your pancakes and drizzle with the spiced orange sauce. (I’ve drizzle some around the palte and used a pipette to allow the sauce to be “injected” into the stack)

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2 ways- Mango with Rosemary, Basil & Lime

75g fresh mango, chopped roughly

4 tablespoons waster

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 tablesppon lime juice

1 small spirg fresh rosemary

3 large basil leaves

  • In a pan combine the liquids and caster sugar.
  • Add the rosemary spirg and chop in the basil leaves.
  • Heat until the sugar has disolved and the on point of boiling.
  • Remove from the heat and allow to cool fully and infuse for at least a couple of hours.
  • When fully cooled, strain into a bowl to remove the herbs. Toss in the mango pieces.
  • Top a stack of panckes with some of the mango, and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche.

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3 ways- Smoky Chocolate sauce with bourbon & pecan

50g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa content

25g butter

120ml double cream

1 tablespoon bourbon whiskey

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

25g chopped pecans, lightly toasted

  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave in short bursts) until smooth and fully melted. Remove from the heat.
  • Heat the butter, double cream, bourbon whiskey and liquid smoke in a small saucepan until evenly combined.
  • Remove from the heat and stir through the melted chocolate until fully combined. When fully mixed add in the pecan nuts.
  • Pour generously over your pancakes and sprinkle with some additional chopped pecans.

Recipe Alert…Peanut Butter Oattie cookies

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My Peanut Butter Oattie cookies are packed full of oats giving them a soft, chewy texture with whole peanuts adding pleasing crunchiness. Make sure you use salted peanuts as they add wonderful pockets of tangy saltiness contrasting the sweet oats.

Sweet, salty, chewy and incredibly moresish- you need to try these beauties! They’re proving incredibly  popular in my household at the moment- I’ve already lost count of the times I’ve been asked to make them. A fantastic treat to have in stock when the kids bundle home from school- a hard days “Rock; Paper; Scissors” having depleted their energy levels! Partnered with a glass of cold milk it’s indeed a marriage made in heaven. But it’s not just my children who can be found pilfering the cookie jar when these are about. My husband’s preference for the savory means he’s oftened to be found checking emails with cookie in hand!

I call them cookies as opposed to biscuits as a personal preference. For me biscuits represent something more uniform and structured- exact bites of crumbly sweetness. The cookie on the other hand is something more rustic. A ballsier rebel of the Baking World conforming less to the rules of appearence and plunging headfirst into the realm of flavours. Cookies don’t care how you think they look- they prefer to let their flavours make an impression. These cookies are not your small, danity bite size treats. They are large handfuls of tastiness- not meant to be nibbled on but greedily chomped at. Partnered with a glass of cold milk your satifaction is sure to be sealed with dripping, grinning milky moustache.

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Peanut Butter Oattie Cookies

Makes between 24-30 (depending on size)

175g Unsalted butter

225g Crunchy peanut butter

4 tablespoons Maple syrup

150g Caster sugar

150g Light brown sugar

2 large Eggs

1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

225g Plain flour

2 teaspoons Bicarb of soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

250g Jumbo porridge oats

100g Salted peanuts

 

Method

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract and both of the sugars. Set to beat on medium speed. Beat for about 10 mins.
  • Whilst the butter mixing is beating you can get on the the other parts of the recipe. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
  • In a separate large bowl combine the flour, bicarb of soda, and salt.
  • Add the porridge oats and peanuts and mix throughly.
  • To the butter mixture add 1 egg and beat to evenly incorporate. Add the remaining egg and once again beat to evenly incorporate.
  • Remove the bowl from the mixer and slowly add half of the dry ingredients, mixing only until just incorporated. Add in the remainder of the dry ingredients and once again mix until just combined. The batter will be quite stiff and lumpy. Don’t worry- this is exactly what you want.
  • Using two dessert spoons or an icecream scoop, place plarge balls (slightly larger than golf-ball shapes) onto the lined baking trays. Leave apx 2 inches between each cookie ball as they will spread whilst cooking they will spread. (I’m never too fussed about having them an even size as I think having them varying shapes and textures adds to their charm and  tastiness).
  • Place the cookie trays into the preheated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until they spread and are golden brown.
  • Remove from the oven and allow the baked cookies to rest on the trays for about 8-10mins. They will still be a bit soft at this point so remove from the trays with a fish-slice or flat spatula and leave to cool fully on wire racks. During cooling they will frim up some more giving a soft cookie texture.
  • Once fully cooled, remove from the rack and enjoy.

 

In the meantime,

“Remember Mom’s the word- that’s Mr. Mom’s!”

Recipe Alert…I am The Muffin Man

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Whilst you may think that there is always cake available in my house (and to be quite honest you wouldn’t be wrong) there is also always a hearty supply  of fruit- perhaps to ease my conscience for numerous bakes? An influx of bananas of late has lead to a near constant presence of the over-ripening fruit. So much so that my husband commented the other evening, “Why is this place turning into the house of black bananas?!?!” Fair enough- he has a point. I however think it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have some fragrant, burnished fruit lying about. They make for much more interesting and tasty bakes once the process of almost “self-caramelisation” is under way. An earlier post of mine gave the recipe for Banana Bread– a firm memory of mine from the kitchen of my childhood. Having only just finished off out latest batch of this I needed something different to make use of the over-ripe bananas now taking up residence on my butchers trolley. So what better way than muffins- that versatile, anytime treat (but not a treat) bake.

Going slightly off track, I recently made some cookies, Maple Butter Cookies with prosciutto dust, using Moose Maple Butter. I am in fact chomping on some as I type- their gloriously maple sweet crumbs littering the keyboard here- oh dear! However- I digress. As a result of this still have some of the said maple butter left and wanted to try other bakes to use it in. So my muffins to be were to provide the perfect excuse for this as well. Kill two birds with one stone – or bake two pans in one oven (to sound a little less brutal about it all).

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Banana Bran Muffins (feat. Moose Maple Butter)

Makes 9

Ingredients

250g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp pinch of salt

1/2 tsp mixed spice

115g caster sugar

100g oatbran

75g melted Moose Maple butter (if can also use regular unsalted butter)

125ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 medium, over-ripe bananas

2 medium eggs

 

Method

  • Heat the oven to 190C electric/ 170C fan.
  • Melt the (maple) butter and allow to cool.
  • Mash the bananas well.
  • Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and mixed spice together in a large bowl, add caster sugar and oatbran, stir through to combine.
  • In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, melted (maple) butter and milk. Add the mashed banana and mix well.
  • Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture, stirring roughly with a fork. Be careful NOT to overmix at this point. You just want it mixed enough so that no pockets of dry ingredients remain. It should look lumpy and pastey – like how a cake batter ISN’T supposed to look!
  • Line a 12 (or 2 x6 ) muffin tray with 9 muffin cases. Fill the cases to the top .
  • Bake for between 2o- 25 minutes, until muffins are springy to touch. Rest the muffin tray on a wire rack for five minutes then remove the muffins and leave to cool.

Hope you enjoy!

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In the meantime,

“Remember Mom’s the word- that’s Mr. Mom’s!”