Like Peanut Butter

My son is a peanut butter fiend. He's nuts about the stuff. We usually buy a large container and whoosh! it's gone. We use it for sandwiches, sauces, soups and right off the spoon. It is unfortunate that the allergies out there are so potent and dangerous that we all must spread lightly.

Here is a recipe my daughter and I did on a lovely Sunday afternoon as an after thought. We took a recipe from an old cookbook from my childhood and changed it up a little. It is extremely quick and easy peasy. Perfect for a kid to do.

We tried buying the all natural peanut butter over the icing sugar peanut butter but it did not go over very smoothly. I actually prefer the all natural product over the standard non-splitting kind but it is a battle that I'd rather not fight.

Some of you may not be aware that peanut butter was invented by a crafty Canadian. It's one of those odd trivial pieces of information that I just have to spread.

PBJ Cookies

175 g (3/4 Cup) Butter, softened
115 g (1/2 Cup) Brown Sugar
55 g (1/4 Cup) White Sugar
1 Egg
Splash of Vanilla Extract
1 Tbs. Smooth Peanut Butter
225 g (1 3/4 Cups) AP Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder

Peanut Butter and Jam of your choice for the filling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Don't bother greasing your cookie sheet.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter for 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add sugars and continue to beat for 3-4 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix for one minute. Fold in peanut butter.

In a separate bowl, add baking powder to the flour and sift together. Add flour and blend.

Mold cookie dough into an even amount of balls and lay on your cookie sheet. Using a fork, press down on dough to create a disk. Create a cross hatch pattern on the cookie dough by pressing the fork the opposite direction.

Bake for 13 - 14 minutes.

Let cool slightly prior to spread peanut butter and jam and making your cookie sandwiches.

Makes 10 or 12 full cookies sandwiches.

A Humble Chef's tip: use a good quality jam for the sandwiches. If you're going to go through the trouble of making the cookies, might as well use a bloody good jam.

What To Do On a Date

Yesterday was fun. I spent the afternoon trying out some recipes and spending time with Iris. After making pasta,she asked if we could bake some cookies. I went through our baking goods and found dried dates beside the brown sugar. And so I decided to use them up for sticky toffee pudding.

This is a simple recipe that I used for Mother's Day brunches in large quantity. Compared to many others I researched, this is by far the simplest. No steaming, you see. Easy to freeze and reheat, sticky toffee can be made individually or in large quantity. It is also very inexpensive and uses ingredients that most people will have in their home inventory most days of the week.

Anyways, try this recipe on a Sunday afternoon for your fam. They won't be disappointed. In fact, it is so simple that you should deduct an administration toffee from their dessert account.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

55 g Dried Dates, finely chopped

200 ml Water, boiling

1 Tsp Baking Soda

100 g Butter (plus a little extra for greasing ramekins or muffin tins or whatever), room temp

150 g Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Tsp.  Almond Extract

125 g Flour

.5 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Powder

For the sauce:

120 g Butter

175 g Brown Sugar

1 Tbs Frangelico liqueur (optional?) 

200 ml 35% Whipping Cream 

Pinch of Cinnamon 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease ramekins with butter. 

On your stove top, bring water to a boil. Add your dates and removed from heat. Stir for 1 minute. Add baking soda and watch it rise. Let cool for a few minutes.

In a stand mix or with a hand mixer, cream the butter for one minute. Add sugar and continue blending for another minute. Add eggs one at a time and almond extract and mix until blended. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powpow. Whisk to combine and add to the wet mixture. Mix until blended. Pour in liquid dates and fold together. 

Pour mixture into your ramekins and bake for 20 - 22 minutes. Careful not to fill too high. The pudding rises and can overflow. It's a neat look but a pain to wash.

For the sauce: In a sauce pan melt butter until frothy. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add 100 ml of the cream and bring to a boil stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add Frangelico and stir. 

Whip remaining cream until stiff peaks. Add pinch of cinnamon. 

Using a paring knife, cut around the pudding in the ramekin and remove onto plate. Drizzle (or drown, according to preference) with caramel sauce and garnish with whipped cinnamon cream. 

Makes 8 servings. 

A Humble Chef's tip: when chopping up your dates, dip your knife into hot water occasionally and wipe. 

And In The End, The Love You Make Is Equal To The Love You Bake

My family and I had company over and we had a great time having Beef and Black Bean Stew with a lovely red. After dinner, and dessert, we had a wonderful time playing poetry challenge, which inspired me to write  a poem for today's recipe post.

John Keats I am not, but I doubt he could bake a cookie as tasty as I do.

Ode to the Chocolate Chip Cookie

A kitchen of smells and mellow spiciness, 

Close bosom-friend of the delectable bun;

Conspiring with him how to make a mess

With fresh fruit the sugars grow in the warmth of the sun;

To bake with desire, and on our hands and knees, 

And fill all bellies with deliciousness to the core;

To swell the taste buds, and bellies all too well;

With a sweet tooth; to keep eating more,

And still more, later dipped into our teas,

Until the crusty baker decides to cease,

For I have a recipe I have decided to tell. 

Spiced Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 and a Half Sticks Of Butter, softened

1 Cup of Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup of White Sugar

2 Eggs

Splash of Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup of Maple Syrup

3 Cups of Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tps of Salt

1/2 Tsp Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp Allspice

1/2 Tsp Cloves

1 Cup of Chopped Semi-Sweet Chocolate

Preheat oven to 325 f. Grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 minutes. Add sugars and beat for 3 more minutes or until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and maple syrup and blend.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices and sift together. Add to the butter mixture in two batches. Add chocolate chunks. 

Spoon into your hand and make a ball. Place on baking sheet and flatten. Bake for 9 - 11 minutes.

Serve with Pomegranate Seeds or Orange wedges for garnish.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Sweet. 

Binary Chocolate Operation

Well, I won't lie to you: when I was in grade school, we had a Home Economics class as well as shop, music and et al. In Home Ec., we did some sewing and stitching (both of which I was absolutely terrible at) and we also had a dab at baking. Though I didn't really notice it at the time, my baking was really quite good. Somehow, even at a tender age, I had a knack for making little treats like cookies and biscuits and the teacher would even point it out to me. If my mother and I were fortunate to land a spot on Fergie Oliver's Just Like Mom, my mother would have no trouble eating whatever I would have made. I suppose it came naturally to me the same way a naturally gifted child doctor can convince another kid to play doctor with them. Although, I didn't really develop an interest in any form of cooking or baking until much later. Well, I have officially lost credibilty in being humble . . . .

Before I get into the recipe, a quick story: early in my relationship with my girlfriend (now my wife), I stayed an afternoon at her house while she went to work. While she was there I thought I could do some baking to pass the time and to impress the family. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies using the recipe from the package. They turned out all right but the family seemed to be impressed by how quickly I made them and how well they turned out. The recipe was so easy but that didn't seem to matter. Point is, if you need to kiss up to somebody, bake them cookies and you'll win them over.

I have seen huge cookbooks dedicated to cookies. The possibilities are endless. If you have a base to go with, then go for it. Add whatever you want. I just made these with my kids from a kids cookbook but made a change or two to make it our own and to avoid plagiarism.

Double Chocolate Cookied Biscuits

8 Chocolate Cubes, about 225 g
200 ml Unsalted Butter
Two Heaping Spoonfuls of Smooth Peanut Butter
20 g Salt, about a 1/4 teaspoon
20 g Baking Powder, 1/4 tsp.
250 Sugar, about 1 Cup
125 g Flour, about 1/3 Cup
2 Eggs
125 g Chocolate Chips

In a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter. Remove and add peanut butter and stir until blended.

Preheat oven to 325.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and sugar and mix. Add chocolate and mix. Add flour in three stages and fold until well blended.

Let stand (or if you feel like sitting) for 30 minutes. Then spoon small amounts on baking sheet and bake for 13 - 15 minutes.

Cool on racks.

Makes 30 small cookies or 20 medium cookies or 10 large cookies or 1 massive cookie, your choice

A Humble Chef's tip: try not to taste this one as you go, it's very addictive.

Variation: I actually haven't tried this yet, but next time I do I'm adding some chili powder. That's the fad these days, Spicy Chocolate.

Number One On the Poppy Chart!

Too make up for some lost time, here is a new recipe just in time for Spring.

In the last post, I mention that we are often restricted in being creative in baking. Well, this is true to a degree but you can make slight changes in the flavour as long as you stick to the basic recipe.

There are some staple recipes in baking that I'm sure if you're willing, you can adjust to seasonality or availability. Today is the perfect example. This is a fairly standard recipe that I have taken and tweaked it a little to call it my own. You can do the same.

Lemon-Cranberry Poppyseed Loaf

350 g (1.5 Cups) A.P. Flour
2 Pinches (2 tsp) of Baking Soda
1 Pinch of Salt
250 ml Plain Yogurt
200 g Sugar
200 ml Canola Oil
2 Eggs, cracked
Splash of Vanilla Extract
Small Handful of Poppyseeds
Small Handful of Dried Cranberries
Finely Grated Rind of 1 Lemon
Dusting of Icing Sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter loaf pan (approx. 1.5L) and dust with icing sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla, poppyseeds and lemon rind.

Add wet mixture to the dry and fold in until combined. Add cranberries and fold in.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 - 45 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Makes 8 - 10 slices.

A Humble Chef's tip: use a toothpick and insert in the middle to check to see if it is cooked. If it comes out dry, you're awesome!

Variation: try with a lime or an orange. It is virtually the same but still different.

How Can You Have Any Pudding If You Can't Eat Your Meat?

I just finished work and played around with something and it seemed to impress most of the boys and girls at work so I'll write it down now before I forget it. Besides, it's been way too long since I last posted (my apologies to you all!). Here is yet another simple base recipe that I added a bit of a twist to and with good results. Bread Pudding is basically Baked French Toast: egg bread cooked with a custard. Pretty simple once you've done it.

I've done numerous variations on the theme: Butternut Squash Bread Pudding, Mushroom Bread Pudding, Lavender Bread Pudding. This one still uses the basic recipe so it is nearly foolproof.

Lemongrass-Ginger Bread Pudding

3 Stalks of Lemongrass, bruised
small piece of ginger, whole and peeled (approx. 15g)

.5 l 2% Milk
.5 l 35% Cream
8 Egg Yolks
2 Whole Eggs
100g Sugar
.25 l Maple Syrup
Splash of Vanilla Extract
1 large loaf of Egg Bread, crust removed, cut into squares

Preheat oven at 350 Celsius.

Liberally butter an 8 x 11 dish. Fill dish with cut bread and allow bread to go a little stale.

In a saucepan, heat milk, cream, vanilla, syrup with lemongrass and ginger and slowly bring to a scald. Reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

In a bowl, combine sugar and eggs and whip vigorously to the "ribbon stage". Approximately 5 minutes.

Strain custard into a pitcher, slowly add custard to eggs while whisking to incorporate. Pour final custard to baking pan and allows for bread to soak up all the custard. Cover with tinfoil shiny side up.

Place baking sheet into a larger pan in the oven. Pour hot water in larger pan and bake for 45 - 55 min. To check pudding, stick a toothpick inside and it should come out cleanly. Refrigerate for 1 hr to let settle.

Serve with fresh berries and ice cream of choice.

Serves 10.

Variations: Ha! Name it. This can go anywhere.

This recipe should be made in advance so if you are entertaining, make this the day before and have it ready for serving. Almost too easy.

Tried, Tested and True

Before I forget, this was the recipe I put on the other blog. Just in case it gets missed I've put it here so it get lost. Try this one when you are not on a diet.


Nutella Brownies

4 large eggs
800 g Nutella (or other hazelnut spread)
100 mL of melted butter
5 mL of vanilla extract
125 mL of flour
5 mL of baking powder
Pinch of salt
200 mL of semi-sweet chocolate chips
300 mL of chopped pecans

Beat eggs. Add butter, vanilla and nutella and mix well.

In a separate bowl, blend flour, baking powder and salt. Blend with chocolate mix. Add chips and nuts and fold.

Pour into a buttered 13 x 9 inch pan (3.5 L) and bake in 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for 30 – 40 minutes.

Let cool overnight. Preferably in a dish.