Peanut Butter Squares

This recipe is taken from Lorraine Pascale’s new book. It’s a lovely book and I’ve made three things so far. Two main meals and this beautiful sweet treat.  I could say many superlatives regarding these morsels of sheer genius, however I just need to stress that if you are a peanut butter fanatic like I am (as you know!) then you must make them.

It’s a brilliantly easy recipe and takes very little preparation – peanut butter, digestive biscuits, melted butter, brown sugar, chocolate, vanilla and chilled in the fridge when all combined. Easy peasy. It’s extremely indulgent, calling for most of a jar of peanut butter, however it does make 16 squares. They are quite large squares too so you could down size even more if you wish. I didn’t want to because they were so moreish and I do have quite a high threshold for sweet things. 

The next time I make these, I am going to cover them in white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. The recipe calls for dark chocolate but I went for milk, simply because I prefer the saltiness from the peanuts against the smooth, sweet milk chocolate – yum! 

I would say that these squares are a hybrid between a biscuit and a Reese’s peanut butter cup. 

Simply fabulous!

A Weekend of Firsts

This weekend, I met macarons and giant cupcakes for the first time.  Both of which I've wanted to make for a while! Macarons because they look gorgeous and chic and giant cupcakes because they simply look fun and enticing.

After watching Lorrine Pascale’s macaron segment recently, I attempted them myself.  Takes a lot of faffing around separating egg whites from the yolks (which I have to admit, I find therapeutic once I get into it) and a careful bake, so I was really impressed with the outcome! Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside - Yummy.  I’ve never tried macarons before, but I’m sure that this is how they’re meant to turn out, from various bits of homework I’ve done.  The crispy layer is achieved by letting the mixture stand on the baking tray for 30 minutes before you bake them.  I have to say that I’ve never tasted anything like it.  They’re definitely for people with serious sweet teeth and who can appreciate Parisian chic treats.   I can’t wait to bake these again!

Giant cupcakes have the wow factor and look so pretty.  I learned today that you’ve got to be so careful when baking them as the base and top allows for different cooking times.  This is why I bought the silicone mould as they are separate pieces, unlike the metal moulds.  It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to bake and required a bit of trimming to get it level enough to sit on top of each other.  Me and Joe ate the off cuts – yum!  I really enjoyed icing it as I wanted to use specific icing techniques, but could be quite random with it.  I’d definitely make them again to experiment with different cake recipes.