I love peanut butter. It is probably my favourite flavour of all time. Nothing goes better with peanut butter than chocolate so when I saw this recipe for peanut butter brownies I couldn’t resist giving them a try. They were absolutely delicious. So if you like peanut butter and chocolate as much as I do, get on it!
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With only 4 or 5 weeks until Little O makes his appearance and I can technically eat whatever I want I have been starting to fantisise about the list of things I am going to eat immediately post labour. In the meantime I am continuing to experiment with baking things that I can eat safely. My latest successful endeavor was these peanut butter blondies that I adapted from a Peace, Love and Low Carb recipe. They are very low sugar and carb so even if you don’t have GD and are trying to stick to these principles they’d be great for a sweet snack. They are also gluten free!
When I started my virtually no sugar, low carb gestational diabetes diet I thought I was going to get mad sugar cravings and wake up in the night sweating and thinking of cake. That hasn’t happened. Although I sometimes dream of Ben &Jerry’s peanut butter cup ice-cream or wish I could just have a piece of fresh tiger bread, I have mostly been fine with getting to eat pretty much as much cheese as I want. What I have been missing is baking. A lot. Like a whole lot. So I decided to do a little experiment and rework one of my favourite brownie recipes to make it GD friendly… and it worked! Not only are these brownies very low in sugar and carbs but they’re also gluten free and passed the 15/30/45/60 blood sugar test advocated by the gestationaldiabetes.co.uk website. What that means is that I tested my blood sugar every fifteen minutes for an hour after eating one of these (paired with some creme fraiche) and all the readings were below my after food target. (Please note that if you have gestational diabetes or type 2 diabetes and want to try these you should repeat the same test on yourself to ensure you are not missing a spike. Everyone’s tolerance is different).
In a few weeks the team of developers I have been working with for the past six months will move onto a new project and a new Product Owner, which means they will no longer be my crew. I am really sad about this since I have had so much fun working with them. I think they’re quite sad too… mostly because the endless supply of my baking experiments is coming to an end. With this in mind I wasn’t surprised that the last time I asked them to add something to a piece of work they asked me what I was going to make them. These were my latest piece of bribery.
So the ice-cream maker and I are now best friends and I have been experimenting with new flavours. This week I decided to combine my favourite thing – peanut butter, with bananas… which I like the flavour but not the texture of. Of course these two things go brilliantly together and the banana texture is no longer an issue for me once pureed. Plus you’d never think it was dairy and sugar free.
As most of you know I love baking and creating tasty treats for friends, co-workers (and obviously myself). Baking takes loads of time (and a little skill) though and sometimes you want to be able to make something delicious really quickly. Behold… Rice Krispie treats. Whether you’re taking a break from more complex baking or you’re not a confident baker if you need to produce sweet snacks for a bake sale or a children’s party, these are perfect. Plus, I have found a way to pimp them with peanut butter!
Unfortunately I can’t find the picture I took of these but I am going add one as soon as I make them again Read more…
What goes together better than chocolate and peanut butter? Nothing! That’s what! I made these cupcakes for my colleagues on my birthday a couple of weeks ago and they were extremely popular. It’s a bit of an unusual recipe because the cake mixture is egg and dairy free (great for if you have allergies, just forgo or replace the frosting) but the cakes are moist and extremely light. I adapted this from Edibles and Travels who originally got it from Joy the Baker via Organic and Chic
Dark chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes
For the cakes
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup olive oil (grapeseed oil or groundnut oil would work just as well)
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
2 cups cold water
For the frosting
1 cup smooth peanut butter
225g butter at room temperature
3 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk
Preheat your oven to 180 C (170 C for a fan oven). Line two 12 hole muffin tins with paper wrappers.
Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb and salt into a large bowl. Mixed well and set aside.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together the oil, vanilla, vinegar and water.
Gently whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Do not overmix.
Divide the batter between the muffin tins and bake for 15 – 17 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of one of the cakes comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Now make the frosting. Put the butter and peanut butter into a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until will combined. Add the icing sugar a little at a time and then beat beat well on low for one minute. Add the milk and beat on high for another minute. Spread the frosting over the cakes and decorate with some chocolate sprinkles or chopped up Reeses Pieces if you fancy.
Makes 24 cakes
It’s no secret that I love peanut butter… so much so that I will happily eat it out of the jar (something I definitely did not do while making this recipe). I am also a big fan of chocolate. So this peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie recipe is definitely a combo I can get on board with.
Extra crunchy peanut butter cookies
Adapted from Kitchen Joy.
1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
110g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 180 C (170 C for a fan oven) and prepare a baking sheet with covering with a layer of parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, mix well and set aside.
Cream together the butter and the sugars using an electric mixter until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and mix well. Then add the egg and mix again.
Stir in the dry ingredients until the dough comes together.
Put the peanuts in your blender and process until they resemble breadcrumbs. Stir the peanuts and chocolate chips.
Break the dough into chunks and roll into balls (about 2 tablespoons of dough for each ball), spread out on the baking sheet (you will need to do this in batches) with about 5 cm between each ball. Press down with a fork dipped in water to make a criss cross pattern on the top. Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 – 12 minutes. The cookies should be brown at the edges but not look completely cooked through.
Allow to cool on the baking tray for a minute or two before placing on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes about 24 cookies
My mum altered me to the idea of making these and I couldn’t resist. They are outrageously decadent so approach with caution.
Peanut butter chocolate Oreo cupcakes
100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
40g butter at room temperature, cut into chunks
120ml milk
1 egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
8 – 12 Oreos (will depend on the size of your muffin tin)
Peanut butter
300g icing sugar
100g butter at room temperature
40g cocoa powder
40ml milk
As an advance warning, this recipe might fly in the face of every other cupcake recipe you’ve ever made but it really does work.
Heat oven to 170 C. Put flour, caster sugar, baking powder into a mixing bowl and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles fine sand and all the butter is combined. Of course if you have one of those schmancy standing mixers with a proper paddle attachment you can just chuck it in there till you get the same effect.
In a separate bowl, mix together the milk egg and vanilla extract. Add about half of this mixture to the flour mixture and beat together with an electric whisk on slow speed until just mixed. Add in the rest of the milk mixture and beat until incorporated. Then crank up the speed of your whisk to make sure you get out any lumps and don’t forget to scrape down the sides with a spatula. You don’t need to beat for long though, it’s important not to overmix.
Spread your Oreos with a little peanut butter.
Get out a 12 hole muffin tin and paper cases. I would suggest that the big deep ones are probably best for this recipe. I got 9 out of that but like I said it might vary. Fill your cases about 1/3 of the way with cupcake batter. Put an Oreo on top of the batter, peanut butter side up, in each case. Then top with the remaining batter so that the Oreo is completely covered.
Pop in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the top of the cupcake springs back when you touch it. Allow to cool in the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling tray.
Once again my icing making technique is unusual but I can promise that this is the BEST. ICING. EVER. Put the butter, icing sugar and cocoa in the blender and blend until everything is combined into a sort of paste. Remove this paste to a bowl, add the milk and beat with an electric whisk at a low speed until combined. Then turn up the speed and beat for 5 minutes. You should be left with a fabulously fluffy icing that it’s hard not to eat straight out of the bowl.
When the cupcakes are completely cool, spread with icing. Eat. Get fat.
Makes 8 – 12.
I have to admit than on reading a brownie recipe with no chocolate, butter, oil or flour in it I was pretty sure it was going to be rather sad. However the pictures and the fact that there was lots of lovely peanut butter (look… I eat it out of the jar) was enough to make me try these and boy am I glad I did. They are deliciously fudgy and rich, gluten free and considerably lower in fat than standard brownies. Also ludicrously easy to make. Get in!
Gluten free peanut butter fudge brownies
Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
½ cup oats
½ cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
170g fat free vanilla yoghurt
¼ cup semi skimmed milk
1 cup Demerara sugar
½ cup smooth peanut butter, make sure you get a sugar free, additive free one – you don’t need all that crap
Put all the ingredients except the peanut butter in a blender (or in a large bowl and get at it with a stick blender) and blend until smooth. Grease a 20cm x 20cm baking dish and line with baking parchment. Pour in the chocolate mixture.
Put the peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the melted peanut butter to the brownie mixture a few spoonfuls at a time, dotting over the surface and then swirl through with a knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake at 180 C for 25 minutes.
Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting all they will fall apart. Prepare to be amazed.
Makes 12
