Peanut Butter Billionaire Brownie

I had been planning this Peanut Butter Billionaire Brownie bad boy for a while.  At first I wanted to make something like Millionaire Shortbread (caramel slice), then I thought ‘why not make it a brownie?’  And then I thought ‘why not change the caramel to peanut butter?’  That’s where I got stuck.  I couldn’t figure out how I was going to make the peanut butter layer, until one day on my drive home from work (where most of my best baking inspiration strikes) it hit me – use the same mixture that I make my Peanut Butter Marshmallow Tart out of.  Genius!  It was on. 

Now, I’ve made this slice three times.  The first time I mucked up and kept forgetting ingredients, the second time I didn’t wait long enough for the middle layer to set before pouring on the chocolate ganache (causing it to mix with the peanut butter).  The third time was perfect.  This slice is also nicknamed ‘fat girl slice’ by Courtenay and I because it is made form such delicious ingredients and I was too impatient to get eating it, causing the stuff up on the second attempt.  Trust me though, this slice is amazing.  Both mine and Simon’s co-workers loved taste testing this one for me!  Follow the instructions (do as I say, not as I do) and you will be rewarded with one rich, moreish treat.  Fudgy brownie, a silky peanut butter marshmallow layer, topped with a smooth band of dark chocolate. Mmmm.

I’ve broken the ingredients and method into the three layers to make it easier to work out what ingredient is being used where.

BROWNIE BASE
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
⅓ cup cocoa
125g butter, melted
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup milk chocolate bits

Method:
Heat oven to 180°C. Line a 20cm square pan with baking paper. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, sugars, and cocoa together in a large bowl.  Add in the wet ingredients and mix well to combine.  Stir through the chocolate bits. 
Press the mixture into the lined pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until firm. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before pouring the peanut butter topping over (make this while the brownie is baking).

PEANUT BUTTER MARSHMALLOW FILLING
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons milk
36 white vanilla marshmallows (normal sized – about half a pack of pascall ones)
¾ cup smooth peanut butter
300ml thickened cream (the stuff that comes in the tub)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
Place the milk, marshmallows and peanut butter into a saucepan over a medium / low heat and stir until the marshmallows are melted and the mixture is smooth (take off the heat and mix briskly if it starts to caramelize / or forming toffee-like threads – this means it is burning, so you need to mix the heat out and turn the element down).  Cook, stirring, for a further 5 - 10 minutes until the mixture becomes a thicker, toffee-like texture.  Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
Beat the thickened cream and vanilla extract using an electric beater until soft peaks form.  Add a quarter of the cream mixture to the peanut butter mixture, stirring to combine.  Fold through the remaining cream until combined.  Spread the peanut butter mixture over the top of the prepared biscuit base.  Place the brownie / peanut butter slice in the refrigerator for 4 hours, or until the peanut butter layer has set before moving on to making the chocolate ganache layer.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE TOPPING
Ingredients:
300ml cream
300g dark chocolate, broken into small chunks
¼ cup salted roasted peanuts, chopped

Method:
Pour the cream into a saucepan and place over a medium heat.  When the cream is close to boiling (tiny bubbles will be visible around the edges of the pot) remove from the heat and add in the chocolate.  Stir constantly until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.  Leave aside to cool down.
When the chocolate mixture is luke-warm, pour it over the top of the peanut butter marshmallow layer.  Sprinkle the top of the chocolate ganache with the chopped peanuts.
Refrigerate until the chocolate layer is set (I left mine over night) before cutting into squares and serving.

Funfetti Cupcakes

If you are a regular reader you’ll remember I mentioned last week that my wee guy had chicken pox. While I was at home with him he put in a special request for ‘dino sprinkle cupcakes’. I decided to make some funfetti cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and on top of his I sprinkled some tiny dinosaur shaped sprinkles. I didn’t have time to come up with a completely new recipe so I made a slight adjustment to the trusty ‘kiddy cupcakes’ recipe so I could reduce the size of the batch so that it made a dozen full size cupcakes and the same amount of minis.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1¼ cups flour
¼ cup cornflour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or good quality vanilla essence)
¼ cup long sprinkles

Buttercream:
125g butter softened
2-3 cups icing sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or good quality vanilla essence)
food colouring, if desired
sprinkles to top



Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line your baking tin with cupcake cases.
Cream the butter in sugar until light an fluffy, add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
Alternate adding the flour mix and milk & vanilla essence to the creamed mixture, beat on a low setting to combine.
Fold through sprinkles, gently – do not over mix or the colours will start to ‘bleed’.
Spoon the mixture evenly into cupcake cases. Bake in a pre-heated oven for  15-20 minutes or until a skewer can be removed cleanly/they bounce back to the touch.
Leave cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
To make the buttercream, cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar alternating with hot water and vanilla. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with. At this stage you can add the colouring to your mix and beat it to incorporate. Pipe onto your cupcakes in whatever manner you desire.

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Kumara and Bacon Mini Muffins

I made these Kumara and Bacon Mini Muffins a few weeks ago when we had a long weekend.  We were away with my parents ‘up North’ and I wanted something that I could snack on when I was feeling peckish.  Mum usually has chips and dip, along with crackers and cheese on hand, which I wanted to avoid.
The muffins had a nice savoury flavour to them and were delicious heated a little with a smear of butter (yeah, I could’ve just eaten the chips and dip).  I think they would also make a great snack to take to work or school in the lunchbox.  Mum reckoned they would be great made in a jumbo muffin tin (cooking times would differ) with a green salad for a lunch or light dinner.  Keep this recipe in mind for after Christmas too – you could swap out the bacon for leftover ham.

Makes 24.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups self raising flour
½ teaspoon rubbed parsley
½ teaspoon sweet basil
½ teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup grated cheese
2 – 4 rashers bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
1 cup milk
1 egg
30g butter, melted
1 cup mashed kumara (I used orange kumara, but whatever variety is your fave will be fine)
¼ cup sunflower seeds

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190°C.  Grease 2 x 12 hole mini muffin trays.
In a large bowl mix together the flour, parsley, basil, curry powder, sugar, salt, cheese and bacon.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg and butter.  Add the whisked mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the mashed kumara.  Mix together until just combined.
Divide the mixture between the prepared muffin holes and sprinkle the sunflower seeds over the top.  Bake for 10 –12 minutes or until golden.

Chocolate, Hazelnut and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Things have been pretty crazy lately, I am approaching the end of my first year back at work full time (after two years at home with Max), that in itself has kept me pretty busy but health wise our wee family has not been able to catch a break – Max in daycare and me at school means are surrounded by germs constantly. As I type I am chatting to my spot covered wee boy – I am off work the next few days thanks to the nasty case of chicken pox Max came down with at the end of last week.

It’s easy to lose your baking mojo when it seems like there are a million other things on the ‘to do list’ (well maybe not a million – but say 300 reports, no that is not an exaggeration that is how many kids I teach over the course of each week!). Mel and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Bluebell’s Cakery book launch a couple of weeks ago and the beautiful recipe book I purchased at the end of the evening has me feeling really inspired! I loved the look of the ‘Chunky Chocolate and Macadamia Bisucuits’ Karla has in the ‘Biscuits’ section of the book that is what inspired these cookies. I must say that time in the kitchen baking something yummy was just what I needed. These cookies are delicious, they even managed to put a smile on the face of my spotty dot!

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
3 tablespoons Nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 egg
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup caster sugar
1½ cups flour
4 tablespoons cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
100g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
100g chocolate chips

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with wax paper.
Cream the butter and Nutella in the bowl of your mixer until well combined and becoming light.
Beat in sugars until your mix is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as required.
Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
Sift in flour, cocoa and baking soda, mix on a low speed until just combined.
Fold through chocolate chips and hazelnut bits (if you want some on top of your cookies just keep a small amount of each aside).
Create ping pong sized balls of dough by rolling it between your hands and place on the lined baking tray, keep balls 8-10cm apart as they will spread. If you are adding nuts and choc chips to your tops place them and use the palm of your hand to flatten each cookie slightly.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are firm.
Once you remove them from the oven leave them on the tray for 2-5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack to cool completely.

These are definitely going to be be my go to cookie for the next wee while! They may even make it into some gift boxes for colleagues since we are approaching that time of year.

Strawberry and Cream Cupcakes

I absolutely love the orange cupcakes recipe Mel posted just over a year ago, they are so light and fluffy. I had a wee play with it and adapted it to make these cupcakes since strawberry season is starting! Mel’s Strawberry Shortcake muffins are an awesome Summer time treat too.  What are your favourite summer flavours?
Ingredients:
Cupcakes:1 ¾ cup flour
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons of freeze dried strawberry powder
2 large eggs, separated and whites beaten until stiff
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup kiwifruit and strawberry juice
100g butter, softened
Frosting:
100g cream cheese, softened
75g butter, softened
1½ – 2 cups icing sugar
2-3 tablespoons hot water
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease, or line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cups.
Combine butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and cream together thoroughly.
Mix flour, salt, strawberry powder and baking powder together in a separate mixing bowl.  Add dry ingredients to creamed ingredients ⅓ at a time  alternating with adding portions of the kiwifruit and strawberry juice to the creamed mixture.
Fold in beaten egg whites.  Spoon batter into cupcake holes until ½ full.
Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.
To make the frosting, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add cream cheese and icing sugar with 2 tablespoons warm water. Add more warm water or icing sugar to soften or thicken your frosting.

Mini Chocolate and Coconut Cupcakes

In the holidays I got stuck into wedding planning (and got so much done that I now have to stop or I am going to look like a crazy lady having everything done so, so far in advance!).  One of the days I had a meeting with the awesome Amanda from The Vintage Table about hiring some of her gorgeous china and an appointment to meet with Lauren and Delwyn from The Lauren + Delwyn Project to pick out some photos from an Engagement photo shoot that we won (I’ve shared one at the bottom of the post).  Because of these meetings, I decided to make something special to take along and share.

These Mini Chocolate Coconut Cakes are really decadent; I’m glad I was taking them to share because I kept eating the rich chocolate ganache and couldn’t really eat anymore!  I was inspired to make them after trying out Coconut Chip Chocolate (amongst others) by Polka Chocolate.  I made the cupcakes using the same recipe I make my Mini Chocolate Santa Hat cupcakes out of, but added in desiccated coconut.  They are topped with a dark chocolate ganache and dipped in shredded coconut.  Yum!  Anyways, on with sharing the recipe…

Makes about 36

Mini Chocolate Muffins:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon instant coffee powder (optional)
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup desiccated coconut
¾ cup milk (low fat is ok)
½ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa power, instant coffee powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and vinegar.  Pour into dry ingredients, along with the desiccated coconut, and stir until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Turn cupcakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Ganache and Decoration:
300ml cream
300g dark chocolate (I used one that was 70% cocoa solids)
1 cup shredded coconut

Pour the cream into a medium pot and heat it until it is almost, but not quite boiling. You’ll know it’s ready when bubbles start to form around the edge of the pot. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stand for 2 minutes, then stir until the chocolate is fully melted into the cream. Whisk until smooth and glossy. When you start to stir it, you think it won’t come together, but it will.  Pour into a bowl and leave in the fridge for an hour to thicken.
Place the coconut into a small bowl or ramekin.
Coat the top of each mini cupcake with a teaspoon of the ganache.  Press the cupcake into the coconut to cover the ganache.

That’s it, you’re done!  And, as promised, here is one of the photos that the lovely Lauren and Delwyn took of us… awww.