Flourless chocolate peanut cake

This morning I joked on Instagram that this week feels like it lasted 45 days already – I am completely exhausted and very happy it is Friday. \0/ To celebrate it, I bring you a recipe that is perfect for the weekend: a moist, delicious and almost creamy chocolate cake, to be served with whipped cream or ice cream.

This cake is similar to this one, which is also gluten free, however it is more flavorsome and moist. The recipe is easy to make and calls for peanuts, a very Brazilian and cheap ingredient that goes really well with chocolate.

Flourless chocolate peanut cake
own recipe

200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, finely chopped
¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup (65g) peanut meal – very finely ground peanuts
pinch of salt
whipped cream or ice cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

In a large bowl, put chocolate and butter and melt them over a saucepan of barely simmering water (do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
Add the sugar and whisk well. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Whisk in the vanilla.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the peanut meal and salt. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until the top of the cake is opaque que a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out still moist. Cool completely over a wire rack. Carefully remove from the pan and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Serves 8-10

Peanut cinnamon amaretti and no time for blogging

My days have been pretty busy lately, and I guess that some of you already know that given my disappearing from the blog. :)

However, I wanted to stop by quickly today and give you a recipe that I simply adore - and that is also quick to put together: the amaretti I make by replacing the almonds with a very Brazilian ingredient, peanuts, and adding a touch of cinnamon. Let’s call this an Italian-Brazilian cookie (I do like to mix and match countries in my kitchen). :) They go wonderfully with coffee and tea, and are also delicious broken into smaller pieces and sprinkled on top of ice cream.

Peanut amaretti
own recipe

2 ½ cups (250g) peanut meal (finely ground peanuts)
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 large egg whites (56g)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the peanut meal, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the egg whites and the vanilla and mix until a dough forms.

Roll 2 teaspoons of dough per cookie into balls and place onto prepared sheets 2.5cm (1in) apart. Press down slightly with your fingers. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool in the sheets over a wire rack.

Cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Makes about 35

Banana, chocolate and peanut crumble to comfort a sad heart

I have told you several times already how much I love the Internet – this very blog would not exist if it wasn’t for it. On the other side, social networks sometimes make me sad – they make me think about lots of things sometimes.

For instance, I see people from my family sharing loads of photos and thoughts and… I feel like I don’t know those people. I did, in a very distant past, years and years ago, but life has changed so much and I no longer can relate to them – they are like complete strangers. I have a few close and dear friends I consider family much more than the people connected to me by blood – that is comforting, that puts my heart at ease. Those warm feelings make me feel good after dark thoughts cross my mind and usually I look for comfort in food form, too – not ideal, I know, but it is what it is.

Aside from my mom’s rice pudding, nothing comforts me more than a good crumble, eaten straight from the oven with a little cold heavy cream on the side. This time I added almond meal and cocoa to the topping, creating a delicious and tropical combination with the bananas.

Banana, chocolate and peanut crumble
own creation

3 large bananas, ripe yet firm, sliced in 1cm coins

Crumble topping:
1/3 cup (46g) all purpose flour
¼ cup (25g) peanut meal
½ tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons demerara sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, cold and chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Divide the bananas between two 240ml capacity ovenproof ramekins or cups.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, peanut meal, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the bananas and bake for 20-25 minutes or until topping is golden and crispy.
Serve with heavy cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 2

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