Peanut Butter Brownies

The boys in my team at work have been having a bit of a rough week it, tight deadlines and high pressure riding on their young shoulders.  After a stint of having to stay back till half one in the morning I took pity on them and decided to bake them some brownies.  Chocolate combined with Peanut Butter (and a fair amount of sugar!) certainly put the smiles back on their faces ... not to mention the cheek back in their banter!

Peanut Butter Brownies
225g crunchy peanut butter (I used smooth because that's what I had in the cupboard!)
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
280g soft light brown sugar
3 medium eggs
100g SR flour


Sr aside 50g each of the peanut butter and chocolate.  Heat the oven to 180C / fan 160C and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment.  Gently melt remaining peanut butter, chocolate and all the sugar in a pn, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has just about melted.  Turn off heat and use a wooden spoon to beat in the eggs one by one.  Stir in the flour and scrape into the tin.

Melt reserved peanut butter in the microwave on high for 45 secs, or in a pan, until runny, then drizzle over the brownie.  Bake for 30-35 mins until it has a crust, but the middle still seems slightly uncooked.

Melt the reserved chocolate, drizzle over the brownie, then cool in the tin before cutting into squares.


Makes 16 squares
Good Food Mag, May 11

White Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies

I was supposed to make this to take along to a family birthday celebration yesterday.  Unfortunately time got away from and so I never made it.  It seemed such a shame not to use up the ingredinets I had collected specifically for this recipe though and so I made it this afternoon to distract me from the commentary on the TV for the grand prix!

White Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies
150g butter, chopped
100g dark eating chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
220g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten lightly
75g plain flour
75g self-raising flour
100g white eating chocolate, chopped
150g frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°C/160°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 19cm square cake pan, line base and two opposite sides with baking paper.

Melt butter and dark chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

Stir in the sugar and vanilla, then the eggs, sifted flours, white chocolate and raspberries.

Spread the mixture into prepared pan; bake in a moderate oven for about 35 minutes or until just firm. Cool in pan.

Turn out; cut into squares.

Serves 10 or more
Nine MSN

Ordinarily Hubby and I aren't dark chocolate connoisseurs, we find it too bitter.  In this recipe I wanted to keep the rich chocolate brown colour that comes from using the dark variety though, so instead of using 200g as the original recipe states I reduced it to 100g and then replaced the other 100g with milk chocolate.  This seems to have worked very well, it has the proper brownie colour but with the taste and texture that Hubby and I both like.  The raspberries are a great addition too, lending a tart tang to the sweetness of the chocolates and the batter.  Defo making this one again!

Peppermint Truffle Chocolate Brownies

This recipe is pure decadence!!  It is another Foodgawker find and as soon as I saw it I knew it had to be tried.

Peppermint Truffle Chocolate Brownies
350g chocolate, chopped and divided (I used milk chocolate)
155g unsalted butter
275g vanilla caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
135g plain flour
180ml double cream
70g crushed peppermint candy canes

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line a 24 x 24cm baking pan with foil and leave some overhang.  Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.  Combine 175g of the chopped chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl.  Set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir until the chocolate and butter are melted and smooth.  Cool the mixture until lukewarm, 5 to 10 mins.

Meanwhile, whisk the sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt in a large bowl to blend.  Stir in the chocolate mixture, then the flour.  Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.  Bake the brownies for 30 mins or until cooked but still with a wobble in the center.  Leave the pan to cool on a rack to cool completely.

Bring the cream to a simmer in a saucepan over a medium heat.  Remove from the heat and add the remaining 175g chocolate and let stand for 5 mins, then whisk until melted and smooth.  Pour the chocolate ganache over the brownie base in the pan and spread evenly.  Let the ganache topping cool slightly before sprinkling with the crushed peppermint candy canes.  Let stand at a cool room temp until the topping is set, about 4 hours.  using the foil as an aid, lift the brownie from the pan.  Using a large knife, cut the brownie into 25 squares, wiping the knife with a hot moist cloth after each cut.  Arrange the brownies on a platter and serve.

Makes 25
Stolen from Lets Dish!!!

In typical me style I was far too impatient to wait for the truffle ganache to set properly, hence the oozing ... I consider this to be perfectly okay though, sticky, gooey, messy chocolate brownies ... what could be wrong with that?

Snow Flecked Brownies - Sweet and Simple Bakes

No dilly dallying for me today (I know! The shock must be over whelming!) these brownies are the best ever and I insist you try making them for yourself ... right now!

OK - maybe there will be a little bit of dilly dallying. But only so I can say that this recipe was chosen by Maria for the December challenge for Sweet and Simple Bakes ~ somebody needs to give this woman a sainthood!

Snow Flecked Brownies

375g best quality dark chocolate (I used milk chocolate)

375g unsalted butter

1 tbsp real vanilla extract

6 large eggs

350g vanilla caster sugar

1 tsp salt

225g plain flour

250g white chocolate buttons, chips or chunks

2 tsp icing sugar, for dusting

Tin measuring approx 33 x 23 x 5.5cm

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line the tin with baking parchment or foil.

Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan.

In a bowl or wide mouthed measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the caster sugar and vanilla extract.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for 25 mins (mine was closer to 35 mins but my oven does seem to run on the slow side!). You can see when the brownies are ready because the top dries to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Its important to keep checking on the brownie while its cooking, a few minutes can be the difference between ecstasy and disappointment, remember that the mixture will continue to cook once it has been removed from the oven.

To serve, cut into squares while still warm and pile up on a large plate, sprinkling with icing sugar pushed with a teaspoon through a small sieve.

Makes approx 20 (for happier hips I've cut mine a bit smaller and will give them out to work mates!)

Sweet and Simple Bakes

Yes ~ my arteries hardened just reading the ingredient list too, but trust me, its totally worth it!
Please head over to the website tomorrow to check out how the rest of the gang got on with this months challenge. Many thanks to Maria ;0)

Milk Chocolate Banana Brownies

My poor old Hubby is having a tough time at work. Its a tough time for us all really with increased workloads and targets to be met before the 31st March. Overtime rates have gone through the roof. I managed to get a few hours of my overtime back yesterday afternoon so I came home with the intention of not doing very much at all. Not doing very much at all soon lead to catching up on all my unread blog posts which was when Raspberri Cupcakes post for Sticky Toffee Banana Brownies set off a cartoon style light bulb above my head. Hubby would love these, and they would be a nice treat for him to come home to. So I set to it right away.

I made a couple of changes, firstly as Hubby is on a diet he only got the brownies, no toffee sauce here! Brownies are a treat enough aren't they? Although we do have visitors popping around this afternoon so there is a fairly strong possibility that there will be Toffee Sauce yet. And I used milk chocolate as Hubby isn't the world's biggest fan of dark chocolate which the original recipe calls for. If you want to have a go at the all inclusive original recipe then please head over to Raspberri Cupcakes. You won't be disappointed, its a lovely blog!

Milk Chocolate Banana Brownies

250g mashed ripe banana (I used 3 medium bananas)

200g unsalted butter

190g milk chocolate

3 eggs

230g vanilla caster sugar

150g self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180C.

Grease and line a 20 x 30cm baking tin. Cut butter into cubes and roughly chop up chocolate and place both in a heatproof bowl. Melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler, then set aside to cool.

Beat eggs and sugar together with an electric mixer on low speed until they are well combined. Beat in chocolate mixture and mashed banana until well combined.

Fold flour gently into the mixture until just combined, taking care to not over mix. (Instructions like this always scare me! As a result I had little lumps of flour throughout my batter but it doesn't seem to have effected the end product. Next time though I think I'll sift the flour in.)

Pour into prepared tin, smooth the top and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. I've learnt the hard way that it is always best to under cook brownies a little bit because it does keep cooking while cooling in the tin. Cool completely in its tray on a wire rack then turn out onto rack and cut into squares.

Makes approx 15 squares

I served Hubby a square for his dessert last night with a scoop of ice cream on top. Next thing I know, he's in the kitchen helping himself to another two squares. I know! Two squares. This is always a sign of success ;0)

Chocolate Week - Carpe Diem Brownies

I've come to a decision ~ I'm not weighing myself this week! In fact, I may not weigh myself for the rest of the month cause that's how long it's going to take me to burn off all this chocolate I am only two days in. I should be hanging my head in shame right now, but I'm not. Carpe Diem!

White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Brownies

200g dark chocolate, chopped (I used milk chocolate)

100g unsalted butter

115g vanilla caster sugar

2 tsp natural vanilla extract (I used a good dollop of vanilla bean paste)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

40g plain flour

150g white chocolate

110g macadamia nuts, chopped (I skipped the chopping, I really like the look of the nuts and chocolate left whole/chunky when the brownie is sliced)

Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease a 20cm square cake tin and line with baking paper. (My tin is oblong, maybe 14 x 20cm but it worked just fine).

The original recipe says to combine the chocolate, 2 tbsp of water and the butter in a saucepan but I added them to a heatproof bowl and placed this over a pan of simmering water just to be on the safe side. Stir over low heat until the chocolate and butter have melted and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the sugar. Remove from the heat.

Stir in the vanilla bean paste (or extract), eggs and flour. Mix until well combined.

Chop the white chocolate into large chunks. Stir the chocolate and nuts into the mixture. Stop stirring as soon as the chocolate begins to melt. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 35 mins, or until the top is firm to touch. Cool in the tin, then cut into squares.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Makes 20 squares (yeah right!)

Taken from 'A Cook's Book Of Decadence - Chocolate, Coffee, Caramel'

I love the title of this book, it was one of the reasons why I bought it. Can you believe I found it in the bargain bin at my local bookshop!!!! It certainly looks as though it has seen better days and even though this is the first time I've actually made something from it I've probably read it cover to cover at least 20 times in the last year.

There have been a lot of blogs with Brownie recipes on them lately and I've copied down each and every one of them in my notebook for recipes to try in the future but white chocolate and macadamia are two of my favourite food stuffs and helped nudge this recipe ahead of the others. Hubby had to 'sample' three brownies for his taste test before proclaiming them a success, I don't think he'll be stepping on the scales this week either!

I cut the brownies slightly larger than the recipe recommended. If you're going to be naughty then you may as well do it properly! The rest of these will be taken into work tomorrow, Gaz got stuck with a particularly nasty piece of work on the audit today instead of me so I promised him brownies to make up for it! Hope they last till morning ...

We Should Cocoa ~ Chocolate and Caramel Brownies

This month's challenge for We Should Cocoa was to use up all those little extras from Christmas.  It is fair to say that I was spoilt for choice as to what I could make but I finally settled on these, they sounded so good we just had to try them!  Of course I couldn't help but alter the recipe as I went along, so this is my version of a recipe that is in this month's Olive Magazine.

Chocolate and Caramel Brownies
Melt 250g unsalted butter, 100g cocoa and 500g caster sugar in a pan, stirring often.  Cool slightly then stir in 3 large eggs and 150g SR flour. 

Pour half the brownie batter into a 21cm square tin (I don't have one of those so improvised instead!) lined with baking parchment, dollop over teaspoons from 4 tbsp caramel (strictly speaking I didn't stick to this measurement!) and scatter with 100g white chocolate chunks (not sure I stuck to this one either).

Top with the rest of the batter.  Bake for 40 mins at 180C/fan 160C - cover with another sheet of baking paper if the crust is browning too much after 30 mins.  Cool in tin and cut into squares.

Makes 16 squares
Adapted from Olive Magazine, Feb 11

The excess ingredient for me was indeed the caramel, I bought a few tins too many in anticipation for the amount of Christmas Cream Liqueur that I thought I'd be making ... until frangelico became a rare commodity thanks to either Nigel or Nigella, one of them put out a recipe in the lead up to Christmas that completely decimated the frangelico stocks in Edinburgh - I was not impressed with either of them.  I guess now now though I need to thank them, otherwise I would never have tasted these brownies which are seriously sweet and should be consumed in very small quantities ;0)

A word to the wise - it is best to leave the brownies to cool in the tin overnight before cutting.  As excruciating as the wait is, the brownies really need to firm up before consuming.

Cowkies ~ A Random Bake Of Kindness

Me - "I have a surprise for you!"

Mr JS - "Ooooooooooooooh.  Exciting!  Can I eat it?"

Me - thinks to self  'He knows me so well!'

"Maybe!" is my reply

I hand over the bag of cookies - "Think of them more as cookies than brownies ... or more brownie than cookie" is my only instruction.

Mr JS - "Oh ... So Cowkies then!"

Thus Cowkies [cow-keys] were born!  You may prefer to call them Chocolate Brownie Bites but to me there is no better name than Cowkies!

I have seen a lot of posts recently for Random Bakes Of Kindness.  A pretty genius idea formed over at Prepped.  Ever since Mr JS has returned to us from his short stint in Australia he has been a bit glum.  Not too hard to understand given the circumstances (which I won't go into) and that his beloved is still back in Oz.  I had been wanting to bake him something special to help cheer him up, even just a little, but I was struggling to come up with just the right bake for him.  Then Martha emailed me the recipe for Cowkies ... OK, she calls them Double Chocolate Brownie Bites ... and I knew just what to bake!

Can you believe this is the only
photo of Mr JS I have!!
He kindly stepped into the breach at our
wedding and partnered my Sis In Law
for the first dace.

Cowkies
275g plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (sorry, I forgot to weight what a 1/4 cup was!)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
113g unsalted butter, softened
55g dark brown sugar
60g honey (I used half honey, half golden syrup)
200g chocolate drops (I used a mixture of milk and dark)
55g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 165C.  Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Beat the butter and brown sugar in a mixer on medium speed till pale and fluffy.  Add honey and beat until fluffy.  Reduce the speed to low.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until well combined.  Mix in the chocolate drops.  Refrigerate the mixture for 30 mins.

Drop heaping teaspoons of dough into the caster sugar.  Roll to coat, shaping into balls.  Transfer to parchment lined baking sheets, spacing about 1" apart.  Bake until the tops are cracking and cookies are just set, about 9 mins.  Transfer the sheets to wire racks and let them cool.

Makes 6 Dozen
Cookie Of The Day

Mine didn't turn out quite the same as Martha's but I'm OK with that.  After all hers are Double Chocolate Brownie Bites and mine are Cowkies, the name has stuck!  Next time I'll use less chocolate drops, it was very difficult to try and roll the dough into balls with all those chocolate chips getting in the way ... this, by the way, is something I never thought I would say!

Mr JS - "Thank you for my Cowkies"

Me - "You're very welcome"

After a slight pause ...

Mr JS - "Just think, If you'd used white chocolate drops they would have been Friesian Cowkies!"

Chocolate Brownie Cake

Seems I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen recently.  And it's none of that fancy, test my skills to the limit stuff that I promised myself I was going to start investing some time in.  Oh no ... looks like my dreams of becoming a world renowned Michelin star pastry chef will need to wait a wee while longer!  Instead I've been baking 'homey' stuff.  The kind of food you feed to family and friends, that not only tastes great and fills your belly put also puts a smile on your face.  That said, I can think of no better place to begin updating my recent kitchen exploits than with this cake.

Chocolate Brownie Cake

175g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

225g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

200g caster sugar

3 eggs, separated

75g plain flour

50g chopped pecan nuts

Icing sugar, to serve

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C.  Butter a 20-25cm cake tin and line with greasproof paper.  Place 175g of the chocolate, plus the butter and sugar in a heavy based pan and heat gently until melted, stirring occasionally.  Leave to cool.

Whisk yolks into the chocolate mix, then add flour, nuts and rest of chocolate.  Whisk egg whites to form soft peaks, then gently, but thoroughly, fold into the mix.

Pour into tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 35-40 mins until crusty on top.  Leave to cool, then run a knife around the sides; remove.  Dust with icing sugar, serve warm with custard or cold with cream.

Serves 10

Good Food, April 11

If I had to criticise, and its picking at straws to do so, it's that this cake doesn't keep that well.  In fairness, it would have been a better idea to bake this cake when there were more than 3 people at the dinner table, but when the notion takes you to bake a Chocolate Brownie Cake ... well, you've just gotta go with it!  This also meant that when the recipe called for pecans and I didn't have any, that I had to sub with the only thing I did have, which was slivered almonds.  This lent a very grown up and, dare I say, sophisticated feel to an otherwise homespun kind of a cake.  We discovered it is best served with strawberries (for a balanced diet) and clotted cream ;0)