Peanut butter and chocolate chip bars

Lately I have been using peanut butter as a way of increasing my protein intake: I buy the natural type made with roasted peanuts only and add a spoonful to smoothies and such.

That reminded me of these bars I made ages ago, when I bought natural peanut butter for the first time. The jar seemed to last too long and I wanted to make something delicious with it. These bars are easy to put together and peanut and chocolate are a match made in heaven.

Peanut butter and chocolate chip bars
own recipe, inspired by several others

1 cup (300g) natural peanut butter
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups (175g) icing sugar, sifted
¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (125g) dark chocolate chips
½ cup (70g) toasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 20x30cm (8x12in) baking pan with foil and lightly butter it.

In a food processor, process the peanut butter, sugars, butter, baking soda, salt, egg and vanilla until creamy. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in the chocolate chips and peanuts. Press dough into the prepared pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges (the center will still be soft).

Cool completely over a wire rack. Cut into bars.

Makes 24

Peanut butter panna cotta with oat praliné

Months ago, when the doctor told me I was lactose intolerant I felt quite sad: I immediately thought of my deep love for cheese and how that would impact my food habits. However, days after that, it hit me really hard: many of the desserts I love so much are cream based, not to mention the ice creams…

I felt miserable.

Now I have learned to deal with it and it is not as bad as I thought it would be: I can replace some of the ingredients with lactose free versions, plus I always have located pills in my purse – they are not foolproof, but it is indeed better than nothing. I have yet to try making a panna cotta with lactose free heavy cream, and I might start with the one I bring you today: it is absolutely delicious and one of my favorite recipes from the times I was working on recipes for the cookbook.

Peanut butter panna cotta with oat praliné
panna cotta: own recipe, oat praliné adapted from this book

Panna cotta:
½ tablespoon powdered unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
½ cup (150g) smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons demerara sugar – I used demerata to enhance the caramel flavor; can be replaced by granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk

Oat praliné:
½ cup (45g) rolled oats
1/3 cup (67g) demerara sugar – I used demerara to enhance the caramel flavor; can be replaced by granulated sugar

Set aside four ½-cup capacity (120ml) glasses or ramekins.

In a small bowl, mix together the gelatin and water. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream and milk together until they start to boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the gelatin, whisking well to dissolve it. Pour this over the peanut butter mixture and whisk well until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and divide the liquid among the four glasses. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours – the panna cotta can be kept in the fridge for up to 2 days, just keep it covered with plastic wrap so it does not dry out.

Now, make the praliné: line a baking sheet with a piece of foil. Spread the sugar in a medium frying pan and cook over medium heat, without stirring. When sugar starts to melt and get golden around the edges, stir gently using a rubber spatula until all the sugar is melted. As soon as that happens, remove the pan from the heat and add the oats, stirring to cover it well with the caramel. Quickly pour the mixture on top of the foil and spread as much as possible, creating a thin layer. Set aside to cool completely. When it is time to serve the panna cotta, break the praline into smaller pieces and place on top of the the panna cotta – do not do this ahead of time for the moisture in the panna cotta can dissolve the caramel of the praliné.

Serves 4

Peanut butter and raspberry mini cakes and the fantastic "The Night Of"

Weeks ago I told you I had dropped River because it made me feel miserable – I wanted something to cheer me up, not to bring me down.
Cut to a couple of days later and I started watching The Night Of – yes, I know, I don’t even understand myself, I don’t expect you to. :)

What an amazing TV show. What a fantastic cast – John Turturro was born to play John Stone, and I found him even more perfect for the part after reading that the first choice to play the lawyer had been James Gandolfini, and after Gandolfini died Robert DeNiro got cast. The movie gods were really watching this show, since that failed too. In my head those two actors would never be able to do John Stone justice – they lack the frailty that is so important in the character. I can’t imagine Galdonfini, so big, tall and with that characteristic loud and strong voice playing John Stone.

I can’t imagine Gandolfini doing what Philip Seymour Hoffman did with his Truman Capote.

I loved the show as a whole – writing, directing, cast, everything was beautifully put together, so perfectly as I hadn’t seen in quite a while (Breaking Bad comes to my mind, as you can imagine). Yes, the show was depressingly sad and dark and each night I would go to sleep with it engraved in my mind, but it was so great I could not drop it as I had done with River. Having some chocolate around for after each episode of The Night Of is the tip I give you – these mini cakes are a good idea, too (and the raspberries can be replaced by pieces of dark chocolate for a nice variation of the recipe).

Peanut butter and raspberry mini cakes
slightly adapted from this cookbook

3 eggs
200g smooth peanut butter
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons canola oil
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
100ml whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons (30g) all purpose flour
about ½ cup fresh or frozen (unthawed) raspberries – I used 4 in each mini cake

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Generously butter and then flour a 12-hole muffin pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and the peanut butter until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, oil, baking soda, baking powder, salt, milk and vanilla until smooth. Fold in the flour. Divide the mixture between the holes of the muffin pan. Top the batter with the raspberries, dividing them among the cakes, gently prodding them into their middles.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden and puffed and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the cakes from the pan and transfer to the rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream if you want.

Makes 12

Banana peanut muffins

As much as I try to stick to the ingredients I have at home when baking, that doesn’t always happen: I sometimes cannot resist some fruits at the grocery store or buying another bar of chocolate and/or a jar of jam (I was much worse in the past, if that is any consolation). :)

It is like buying another book when you are not even close to finish reading the ones you already have (that, luckily, I no longer do). But the ingredients… I sometimes give in. :)

Last weekend, however, I reached for a batch of homemade vegetable stock in my freezer and saw a couple of bananas there. There was another ripe banana in the counter, so I decided to bake with them. The idea started as a cake, but changed to muffins when I saw these on Olive magazine – I had each and every ingredient at home and that made me feel like a winner. :D

On top of using the bananas, I was able to go through my giant peanut butter jar a little bit more, use up the remaining peanuts from this recipe and also the peanut meal I found in a shop weeks ago (and of course I had to bring it home). :D Don’t worry if you don’t have any peanut meal at hand: the original recipe calls for almond meal, so you can use either one.

Banana peanut muffins
slightly adapted from the always great Olive magazine

1 ¾ cups (245g) all purpose flour
2 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
3 tablespoons peanut meal (finely ground peanuts)
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (78g) demerara sugar
3 ripe bananas, being 2 mashed and 1 chopped
100g smooth peanut butter
2 eggs
½ cup (120ml) buttermilk*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
handful of toasted peanuts (salted are fine)

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Line a standard 12-hole muffin pan with muffin cases.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, peanut meal and sugar. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 2 mashed bananas, the peanut butter, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla until well mixed. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a fork – do not overmix or your muffins will be tough; muffin batter is supposed to be lumpy, not smooth like cake batter. Stir in the chopped banana.

Divide the mixture between the cases and sprinkle with the peanuts – press them slightly with your fingers so they adhere to the batter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully remove the muffins from the pan and transfer them to the rack. Serve warm or let them cool completely.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 12

Nutty butter cookies and a wandering mind

As I was driving home from work days ago, in the middle of a massive traffic jam, I started listening to The Wallflowers and that led to a trip down memory lane: in the far, far away year of 1996, I spent months listening to Bringing Down the Horse, a CD I bought because I fell in love with One Headlight the minute I heard the song for the first time.

So there I was, driving in the rain listening to 6th Avenue Heartache (my second favorite track of that album), and my mind wandered a bit and I thought about the music video clip, so beautiful, directed by David Fincher, one of my all-time favorite directors.

One band, one song, one video clip, one favorite director.

One good thing leading to another, like my purchase of a huge jar of peanut butter leading to a bunch of recipes made with it, like the super easy fudge I posted the other day and these cookies. These cookies are delicious – the oats are toasted in butter before being added to the cookie dough and that, combined with the demerara sugar that I decided to use instead of the granulated one, gives the cookies the most delicious caramel flavor (and I added a bit of whole wheat flour to help with the nuttiness of the whole thing).

Nutty butter cookies
slightly adapted from the always fabulous Martha

¾ cup (170g/1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened – divided use
1 cup (90g) rolled oats
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (67g) demerara sugar
½ cup (88g) light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
½ cup peanut butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (70g) whole roasted salted peanuts

Melt ¼ cup (½ stick/56g) of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add oats, and cook, stirring, until toasted, 5-7 minutes. Spread oat mixture on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Let cool completely. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together remaining ½ cup (113g/1 stick) butter and the sugars until pale and creamy. Add egg, and beat until combined. Add nut butter and vanilla, then beat on medium speed until well combined.
Add oat mixture and peanuts, and mix on low speed until combined. Add flour mixture, and mix just until combined.

Drop 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the prepared pans, 5cm (2in) apart. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes, or until they’re golden-brown around the edges. Cool completely in the pans
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Makes about 28

Oh-so-easy peanut butter fudge

Like many of you reading me right now (I am sure), I am the kind of person who has fun at the grocery store and supermarkets – I know that for many people going to such places is one very cruel way of torture, but I absolutely love it. And then there are the supermarkets where you find huge packages of products – a whole new level of fun! My heart is filled with joy when I think that in my cupboard right now there is a 5kg-package of sugar just waiting to become cake/bread/dessert on the weekend. :)

I do, also, buy things that I use much less than I use sugar, like peanut butter, for example, but how could I resist buying an 800g-jar of pb for the same price I’d seen a half this size jar? Naturally I brought it home and now I have been making some (or should I say many?) delicious recipes with it, like this fugde: it is really, really easy and can be put together in a matter of moments. You just need some patience to let it set before cutting it into small squares. I thought I would have to send these to friends in order not to eat them all myself, but my husband tried one and it was impossible to stop him from eating the whole thing himself – the same husband that doesn’t like sweets. :D

Oh-so-easy peanut butter fudge
slightly adapted from Lucy Cufflin

¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200g) demerara sugar
3 tablespoons whole milk
generous 1/3 cup (100g) smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted – you might not use all of it

Line a 20x10cm (8x4in) loaf pan with baking paper.
Put the butter, sugar and milk in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Stir very gently until the all the sugar has dissolved.
Once the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and, without stirring, cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, vanilla extract and salt. When well mixed, gradually add the icing sugar, beating with a wooden spoon – the mixture should be smooth and creamy, not dry (if too dry, add a few drops of water and stir vigorously).
Spoon the fudge into the prepared pan, press it down using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon and level the surface. Leave to cool, uncovered, for 4-5 hours or overnight.
Lift out the fudge in its paper and cut into neat, even squares – it can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.

Makes 36

Peanut butter cookies and great music

I have been baking cookies like crazy lately, I could say it has become an addiction: every time I see a cookie recipe online or in a cookbook I want to make it, and I pretty much do it most of times – luckily for me my family likes cookies as much as I do and I don’t have to eat them all myself. :D

There is something else I’ve been obsessing about these days and it’s not food: Ra Ra Riot – I’ve been listening to one of their songs for ages, so last week I decided to search for their songs on Spotify and I became a fan for the songs are really good and they have a cover of one of my all time favorite songs.

I’ll admit it that when it comes to music I am a bit of a coward: if I like a song too much, I avoid listening to other songs by the same singer/band out of fear of getting disappointed (you can go ahead and laugh now). :)

I was brave enough this time – it’s taken me what, two and a half years? – and it paid off: the other songs by Ra Ra Riot are amazing, and my favorites are “Beta Love”, “Angel, Please” and “For Once” – I’ve been listening to them nonstop while cooking and baking, and one of the results were these delicious and super easy to make peanut butter cookies, a recipe from one of the most beautiful cookbooks I own.

Peanut butter cookies
slightly adapted from the über beautiful The Baking Collection (The Australian Women's Weekly)

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (70g) crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup (130g) light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (75g) roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the egg. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients, then stir in the peanuts.

Roll 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie into balls, place them 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets and flatten each ball lightly with a floured fork.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden around the edges. Cool in the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully slide the paper with the cookies onto the rack and cool completely.

Makes about 40

Peanut butter and chocolate cake - much better than clay

Last week I tried to convince my sister to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past with me, but it was impossible: she wanted to go to the movies, yes, but to watch The Fault in Our Stars. Because I’m a softie when it comes to my sister, I said yes and then grabbed some extra paper napkins where we ate lunch, just in case. :D

The movie is lovely, Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are adorable and good actors and the story is moving without being sentimentally poor – Shailene just needs to learn what feminism really is, the poor girl is completely mistaken about (apparently eating clay doesn’t do people’s brains any good). :)

I had several teary-eye moments, but did not cry my heart out as I did with The Tree of Life or The English Patient – I wonder if it was really because of the film or because I ate a couple of brigadeiros at the theater. Chocolate can really make you feel better, right? So if you plan on watching The Fault in Our Stars I suggest you pack some Kleenex and something chocolatey as well – a slice of this cake, which is made with cocoa and peanut butter and frosted with silky, delicious ganache can come in handy when the tears start rolling down your face, I promise you. :)

Peanut butter and chocolate cake
slightly adapted from the most beautiful cookbook I own (I bought mine here)

Cake:
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa
½ cup (120ml) boiling water
300g all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
185g unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
¼ cup smooth peanut butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk*

Ganache:
¼ cup (60m) heavy cream
180g dark chocolate, finely chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) round cake pan, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper was well.
Stir cocoa and water in a small bowl until dissolved, then cool for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the peanut butter. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and the cocoa mixture. On low speed, beat n the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk (start and end with the dry ingredients). Transfer to pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until risen and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 30 minutes, then carefully unmold, peel off the paper and transfer to the rack to cool completely.

Ganache: Heat cream over medium heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and peanut butter and set aside for 3 minutes. Stir until smooth, then refrigerate for 15 minutes or until slightly thicker. Spread over cooled cake.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Serves 8-10

Chunky peanut, chocolate, and cinnamon cookies and laughs galore

I’m a silly, silly person and laughing is definitely not a problem to me – sometimes I laugh so hard my eyes get all teary and I have trouble finishing reading/watching whatever caused the laughs in the first place. :D

Last week this link made me laugh for more than 10 minutes nonstop – my husband thought I was reading something else but no, it was still the kids (and now that I’ve searched for the link to post here I’m laughing like an idiot again).

Yesterday it was Jimmy Kimmel’s hilarious “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets About Themselves”, with Sofia Vergara and my beloved Gary Oldman having the best reactions to the tweets, and the reason why I got to that link was two friends thinking of me when they say Gary was among the stars. <3

I love it when people think of me when they see something cool, and another thing I love is getting food as a gift – a friend gave me a jar of peanut butter a couple of weeks ago and I turned it into these delicious cookies; it’s a recipe by Martha Stewart, and we all know that when it comes to food Martha can do no wrong.


Chunky peanut, chocolate, and cinnamon cookies
slightly adapted from the wonderful Martha Stewart's Cookies: The Very Best Treats to Bake and to Share

2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks/170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup (175g) packed light-brown sugar
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (250g) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup roasted, salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Put butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until combined, about 2 minutes. Add sugars; mix 2 minutes. Mix in eggs, then vanilla – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. On low speed, gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips and peanuts. Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes – in the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F and line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Place 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie onto the prepared sheets, 5cm (2in) apart. Flatten slightly. Bake until just golden, about 13 minutes (while you bake the cookies, keep the remaining dough in the fridge). Slide the paper with the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Makes about 40

Salted peanut butter and jelly blondies, two great guys left out of the Oscars and a mediocre movie

When it comes to the Oscars apparently every year there is a very talented person (or more than one) left out of the competition, and I’ve written about it already. This year both Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass were “forgotten” for their remarkable work in Captain Phillips, which is really unfair to me. I wouldn’t say Hanks’ performance was the best among the nominees – that title still belongs to Leo – but it is certainly superior to Christian Bale’s in the mediocre American Hustle and to Matthew McConaughey’s in Dallas Buyers Club.

As far as directors are concerned, David O. Russell’s nomination is just a bad joke and to think that he was included in the game at the expense of Greengrass makes this year’s competition even more ridiculous (I think you’ve already noticed how much I hated American Hustle). :D

After wasting 138 minutes of my life on such a lame movie I needed something tasty and quick to put together – the halfway-through jar of raspberry jam in my fridge (left from the cookies I baked a while ago) and the recently bought jar of peanut butter were combined to create these blondies. As I sliced them into squares and thought of the movie, it hit me that Bradley Cooper – the poor actor who stars in things like The Hangover – is a two-time nominee in a two-year period (for two below the average movies) while it took the Academy more than twenty years to first nominee the best actor in the world – that made me so mad I had to eat a blondie right away. :D

Salted peanut butter and jelly blondies
slightly adapted from Bon Appétit magazine

½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, melted
1¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs
200g light brown sugar
¾ cup crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ tablespoons raspberry jam
flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a square 20cm (8in) baking pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang on two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, and table salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, peanut butter, butter, and vanilla extract; fold in dry ingredients. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Dollop with the jam. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Cool completely in the pan, then cut into squares to serve.

Makes 16

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies and being short

Back in my school days, I hated being short – I had all sorts of nicknames, and not many were cute as Smurfette (I believe that was the only one I liked). At 34 I no longer care and funnily enough I have developed a taste for mini food – humans are strange beings, I know. :D

A jar of peanut butter in the cupboard and a Donna Hay magazine with several pb recipes (which had already produced these lovely cupcakes) were the reason behind these cookies. I decided to make them fairly small using only 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie, and since they did not spread while in the oven – partially because I added more flour to my dough and partially because I did not flatten them before baking – the result was a tiny, delicate cookie that reminded of petit fours served with tea - the difference is that these are much better served with a glass of cold milk.

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies
slightly adapted from the always amazing Donna Hay Magazine

185g all purpose flour – my dough was much too soft, I ended using 200g flour total
¼ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
100g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (130g) crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g light brown sugar*
1 egg
75g dark chocolate chips
75g white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until creamy and well combined. Beat in the egg until evenly incorporated. On low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Using 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie, roll into balls and place 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown, especially around the edges. Cool on the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to rack and cool completely.

* I used less sugar than the amount called for in the recipe, but still thought the cookies were a tad too sweet – if I were to make these again I would use 150g sugar

Makes 45

Pb & jelly bars + a TV show I deeply love

One of my all time favorite TV shows is “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” – I began watching the show because of Vincent D’Onofrio and ended up addicted to it. I hated it when they added Chris Noth to the equation and completely abandoned the show when Jeff Goldblum took over – without Goren and Eames things weren’t interesting anymore.

With the help of my good buddy Netflix I’ve been watching the show from the beginning, from the very first episode, and enjoying it a lot: there are episodes I did not see back in the day when they were aired here and some of them I could barely remember (I’d forgotten how the whole Nicole Wallace thing had started, for instance). It’s such a joy to watch a talented actor in action – not many can be proud of their big break the way D’Onofrio can, and to be thanked during an Oscar speech having nothing do to with the movie in question is even for fewer – and it doesn’t hurt when they’re eye candy as well: if he’s your type you should really watch him dance with a very lucky lady in one of the show episodes: jump to 2:13. You’re welcome. ;)

Peanut butter and jam, such a classic combination: a very American thing I learned of when I started reading food blogs, many years ago. In these bars – which are dead easy to make – the combo is lovely and the flavors perfectly complement each other: Goren and Eames in food form. :D

Pb & jelly bars
slightly adapted from here

125g unsalted butter, melted
70g light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
200g all purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
½ heaping cup raspberry jam
395g can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 cup unsalted peanuts*

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x30 (8x12in) baking pan, line it with allowing a 2cm overhang on all sides, and butter the foil as well.
Combine butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Sift flour, baking powder and salt over butter mixture. Stir until well combined. Press mixture onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
Spread jam evenly over base. Place condensed milk, peanut butter and peanuts in a bowl. Stir until just combined. Pour milk mixture evenly over jam. Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are deep golden and center is just firm to touch. Cool completely in pan. Cut into bars.

* I had only salted peanuts at home, so I rinsed them thoroughly under cold water then patted them dry with paper towels

Makes 24

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing

Every time a new DH magazine issue arrives I go crazy with so many delicious recipes and it’s a tough task to choose which one to make first. This time, however, it was a bit easier: I decided I would only make something if I had all the ingredients home. Since I was out of cream cheese all the gorgeous cheesecakes would have to wait, that way I settled for these cupcakes: tender and deeply chocolaty, they are enhanced by the delicious icing. The original recipe called for smooth peanut butter but I used crunchy and thought that it worked really well, adding a nice bite to the smooth frosting. The recipe also called for a caramel sauce to be poured over the frosting but to me the cupcakes were sweet enough without it – more sugar wouldn’t do them any good.

Chocolate whisky cupcakes with peanut butter icing
slightly adapted from the always delicious and stunning Donna Hay Magazine

Cupcakes:
200g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons whisky
140g unsalted butter, chopped
½ cup (45g) Dutch-processed cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
275g granulated sugar

Peanut butter icing:
160g icing sugar, sifted
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
80g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole (½ cup capacity each) cupcake pan with paper liners.
Cupcakes: in a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the whisky and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cocoa. Add the eggs, sour cream and vanilla and whisk to combine. Whisk in the sugar, then the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Pour the batter equally into the prepared pan (don’t go over 1/3 of the capacity or the batter might overflow) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until risen and cooked through when tested with a skewer. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat until pale and fluffy, 6-8 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add the cream and beat for 1 minute. Spread the icing over the cooled cupcakes.

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3-cup capacity muffin pans and got 9 cupcakes

Chocolate peanut butter biscotti

The biscotti-craze doesn't seem to be going anywhere, therefore it was not so difficult for me to choose which recipe to make first from the oh, so beautiful "Tea With Bea": the cheesecakes looked amazing and I felt tempted to start with one of them, but since I did not have any cream cheese in the fridge I went for the chocolate pb biscotti. I have to honest with you: the dough needed some adjustment and enclosing the peanut butter inside it was less fun than I'd expected, but in the end it was all worth it, because the biscotti turned out absolutely delicious.

Chocolate peanut butter biscotti
slightly adapted from the oh, so beautiful Tea With Bea: Recipes from Bea's of Bloomsbury

2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (45g) cocoa powder
100g light brown sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup – I used corn syrup
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
80g roasted, salted peanuts
80g dark chocolate chips
granulated sugar, for sprinkling
generous 1/3 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa and sugar. Set aside.
Put the golden syrup, oil, eggs, water and vanilla in another bowl and whisk to combine. Add t the dry mixture and stir until just combined (my dough here was very dry and crumbly, so I added another egg and 1 tablespoon oil).
Add the peanuts and chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before proceeding.
Preheat the oven to 145°C/290°F. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Sprinkle a work surface liberally with sugar. Place the dough onto the sugar and flatten roughly with your hands. Dot spoonfuls of peanut butter all over the dough and lightly roll the dough into a log about 6cm (2½in) wide and 2cm (1in) high. Try to encase the peanut butter inside the log to avoid it from burning.
Transfer the dough log to the prepared baking sheet. Bake it for 25-40 minutes until the top is completely hardened, and when tapped, feels sturdy and not squishy inside. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.
Turn the oven to 135°C/265°C. Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Slice the cooled log, diagonally, into 1cm (½in) slices. Lay all the slices flat on the prepared sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until nice and dry, turn all the biscotti over bake for another 10-15 minutes on that side. Cool completely on the sheet.
Store in an airtight container. The biscotti will keep for up to 1 month.

Makes about 30 – I made the exact recipe above and got 22

Oreo and peanut butter pie

After several posts with fruit-based sweets I now bring you something extremely sinful: crushed Oreo cookies, topped with peanut butter and chocolate. I know, I know, this is not what we would call a light dessert, but certain moments call for decadent, over-the-top sweets – and on all the other days you can have an apple after lunch. ;)

Oreo and peanut butter pie
slightly adapted from the brilliant Delicious - Australia

Base:
20 Oreos (or other chocolate cream cookies)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling and topping:
250g crunchy peanut butter
¾ cup (105g) icing sugar, sifted
150g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
75g unsalted butter

Finely crush the cookies in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse to combine. Press into the base and sides of a lightly buttered 24cm loose-bottomed tart pan and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Using an electric mixer, combine peanut butter and icing sugar until smooth. Spread in the tart base. Refrigerate while you make the topping.
Place chocolate and butter in a clean bowl over a pan of simmering water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted, then cool for 15-20 minutes. Spread over the peanut butter layer and chill for 30 minutes until firm. Cut into slices and serve.

Serves 8-10

Chocolate stout cake with peanut butter frosting

I've been trying to keep up with the inventory idea for the last year and it's worked out fine so far: the ingredients no longer end up in the garbage and that is great. From time to time I check the contents of my pantry/freezer/fridge to make sure nothing goes to waste and a couple of days ago I found a can of Guinness beer in the cupboard; while searching for something delicious to make with it I remembered this great cake I made months ago but still hadn't shared with you - it's another one of Donna Hay's wonderful recipes and it was the first time I ever baked with stout beer.

Chocolate stout cake with peanut butter frosting
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Donna Hay Magazine

Cake:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
½ cup (120ml) Guinness or other stout beer
½ cup (113g/1stick) unsalted butter, chopped
1/3 cup (30g) cocoa, sifted
1 egg
1/3 cup sour cream*
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (224g) granulated sugar

Peanut butter frosting:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar, sifted
½ cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 1.5l loaf pan, line it baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Cake: in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place the stout and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir to melt the butter. Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa; set aside.
Whisk together the egg, sour cream and vanilla. Add to the stout mixture, followed by the sugar and the sifted ingredients. Whisk to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan over a wire rack for 20 minutes. Carefully unmold cake and transfer to the rack. Cool completely.

Frosting: place the sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake to serve.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 6-8

Peanut butter and Port thumbprints

A long time ago I bought an adorable cookbook filled with recipes spiked with alcohol; but me being me, when it came to using the book I realized I did not have all those kinds of booze around the house – I don’t even have any tequila at home! – and therefore the cookbook patiently awaited on the shelf, up until the day it suddenly hit me: I had a bottle of Port begging to be used! That is how I ended up making these delicious cookies.

Peanut butter and Port thumbprints
from the lovely The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets

2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups (262g) light brown sugar, packed
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter
¾ cup jam or jelly
3 tablespoons ruby Port

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until creamy and lighter in color. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the vanilla and peanut butter. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined. Chill the dough for 20 minutes*.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a small bowl, mix together the jam and the Port and stir until smooth.
Scoop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place the ball onto the prepared sheets 3in apart. Press the center of each ball with your finger or a small measuring spoon. Carefully fill each cookie with the jam mixture.
Bake the cookies until slightly browned at the edges, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on the sheets over a wire rack.

* not enough time; I chilled the dough for 4 hours and it was still too soft; I would definitely add a bit more flour to the dough

Makes about 32 cookies – I halved the recipe, used 1 leveled tablespoon of dough per cookie and got 35; for the filling I used a generous 1/3 cup raspberry jam + ½ tablespoon Port

Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars + "Man of Steel"

I've just had a delightful surprise during my daily visit to "Awards Daily": the lovely Sasha Stone posted not one, but two versions of the "Man of Steel" teaser, one voiced over by Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent) and the other by the always amazing Russel Crowe, who will be playing Jor-El - if that isn't reason enough to anxiously wait for that movie I do not know what is. :)

The beautiful teaser comes with some cheesecake, a delicious peanut butter version by the always amazing Nigella Lawson.
To me, the chocolate glaze was unnecessary on the dulce de leche cheesecake bars I made a while ago, but here it’s perfect: the peanut butter has a slightly salty flavor and the milk chocolate compliments it beautifully.

Chocolate peanut butter cheesecake bars
adapted from the magnificent Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

Base:
140g digestive biscuits
2 ½ tablespoons (35g) unsalted butter, softened

Filling:
300g cream cheese
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) sour cream*
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

Topping:
2/3 cup (160ml) sour cream
2/3 cup (120g) milk chocolate chips
1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square baking pan then line the bottom and sides with 2 pieces of foil, leaving a 5cm (2in) overhang on two opposite sides. Butter the foil as well.
Base: process the biscuits until ground then add the butter; process again until mixture resembles wet sand. Turn it out into the prepared pan and press into the bottom to make the crust. Put in the fridge while you make the filling.
Filing: place the cream cheese, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, sour cream, peanut butter and vanilla in the clean bowl of the food processor and process until very smooth. Pour into the base bake for 1 hour, though check after 50 minutes: the top – only – should feel set and dry.
Take the cheesecake out of the oven while you make the topping.
Warm the sour cream and chocolate with the brown sugar gently in a small saucepan over a low heat, whisking to blend in the chocolate as it melts, and then take off the heat. Spoon and spread the topping very gently over the top of the cheesecake, then put it back in the oven for a final 10 minutes**.
Once out of the oven, let the cheesecake cool completely in the pan over a wire rack, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
Carefully lift cheesecake from pan using foil overhangs and cut into 16 squares.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

** mine looked exactly the same after 10 minutes, so I baked it for 22 (until matte and firmer)

Makes 16

Peanut butter-yogurt Bundt cake with ganache glaze + my good mood anthem

I no longer complain about chaotic traffic here in Sao Paulo – I have accepted the fact that it is part of my city and that I have to face it on weekdays. Period. There’s no point in bitching about it – it is what it is. The key to survive it is to try and make those hours a little more pleasurable, and music is a very helpful tool. There is one song I absolutely love and that, for over 10 years now, has been a sort of instant mood enhancer: every time I feel sad or angry (or both), I listen to Phats & Small’s “This Time Around” and it immediately makes me feel better. My good mood anthem. :)

I also keep a small notebook at hand because it seems that traffic jams bring great recipes to my mind – it was on a very rainy and chaotic day that I remembered the peanut butter cake with chocolate glaze from this wonderful book, and now it is here so you can try it too – it is oh, so delicious.

Peanut butter-yogurt Bundt cake with ganache glaze
slightly adapted from the amazing Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats

Cake:
1 cup (260g) plain yogurt
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups (315g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 ¼ cups (250g) demerara sugar

Glaze:
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
85g (3oz) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease a 12-cup Bundt pan and dust with flour. Whisk together the yogurt, eggs, and vanilla in a large glass measuring cup. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Combine the butter, peanut butter, and demerara sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
On low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients in 3 additions with the yogurt mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, scraping the sides of the bowl between additions.
Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat for 1 minute.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden and risen and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze: heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and butter and let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
Pour the warm glaze over the cake.

Serves 10-12

Peanut butter granola + Woody Allen and Larry David

A couple of nights ago I was on my couch, watching “House M.D.” and being horrified by the fact that a child almost as tall as me was wearing diapers on that episode when the reminder for "Whatever Works" appeared on my screen; after watching the movie I thanked the Universe for putting Woody Allen and Larry David together – the witty text, perfectly performed by the fantastic David and a very sharp and talented Evan Rachel Woods, with the addition of a divine, funny and gorgeous Patricia Clarkson made me laugh so hard I was afraid my neighbors would think I’m crazy. :)
There are hundreds of great lines throughout the movie – you can find some of them here – and one of them is absolutely real: “The human race. They've had to install automatic toilets in public restrooms, because people can't be entrusted to flush a toilet.” – it always amazes me – in a very bad way – that the Man has walked on the moon but some people seem incapable of flushing a freaking toilet. Go figure. :D

This die-hard fan of "Mighty Aphrodite" loved the movie and if you like Allen’s sense of humor I’m sure you’ll love it too – watch it and then let me know what you think. Can I ask for one more thing? Make this granola – it’s the best granola I’ve ever eaten and the real challenge here was stop eating it right out of the oven so there would be at least half of it left to store in an airtight container. :D
The recipe comes from a website I adore so much I cannot wait to buy their book.

Peanut butter granola
slightly adapted from the always amazing Food52

250g rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon table salt
½ cup crunchy peanut butter
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup (44g) lightly brown sugar, packed
¼ cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (110g) dried cranberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 165°C/325°F.
Combine oats, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, combine the peanut butter, oil, brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Pour mixture over granola and stir until oats are fully coated.
Spread gently in an ungreased 22x32cm (13x9in) pan. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until granola is toasted, stirring gently every 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in pan.
Stir in fruit, if using, and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a month.

Serves 8-10