Monday 29 December 2008

peanut butter-y goodness in a cup!

so a friend of mine is a mad, crazy peanut butter fan...so when we were invited over to his place for a hot dog extravaganza...how could i not make something with peanut butter in it. so a lot of the time when i think peanut butter...i think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, i don't know why, but they are just the epitomy of peanut butter-ness in a little cup. and it just so happened that a certain candy store here in Singapore in Vivocity were having a one for one deal on aforementioned product...so how could i possibly pass up a bargain like that! 12 peanut butter cups for the price of 6! i'm a sucker for bargains and especially the sweet variety...
so anyway...i thought i'd try and drop the Reese's cup into the bottom of the cupcake and hope for the best that it would bake in. i used my brownie cupcake recipe - which is always a hit and dropped the peanut butter cup in first then topped with the batter. baked as usual...and the result...well, once they had actually been allowed to cool off properly (a few suspects couldn't wait and ate them while still cooling and the result was that the peanut butter cup dropped straight off the bottom...duh!) the Reese's cup held quite nicely and the cupcake was this yummy chocolate-y delight with a lovely layer of peanut butter at the bottom. very very more-ish! all you peanut butter fans out there...this is NOT to be missed!

Sunday 21 December 2008

mulberry spelt tart...a pie full of goodness!



what better way to get this super food than in a tart-full of them! this was made as a special request for a dear friend, and again, who am i to disappoint? so this is the result. i think i left the tart in for a little longer than i would have liked so would keep that in mind for next time...30 mins is definitely sufficient to ensure the crust is not too hard. but the taste with the mulberries and the earthy texture of the spelt was delicious. this is definitely a keeper!

Saturday 20 December 2008

toffee bread and butter pudding...get sticky all over!

bread and butter pudding is such comfort food...i love it...and what better way to enjoy it than with the bread spread thickly with toffee rather than butter...oh so good! and then to make sure you cover with a huge scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream and really there is never going to be a need to leave home again...! the best part of bread and butter pudding is that it is so easy to make and uses up all that few day old bread that no-one ever wants to eat any more...so what do you do? take about 8 slices of any old bread (no, really!) spread thickly with homemade toffee (the recipes on here somewhere), place in a pie dish, sprinkle lovingly with raisins and then add your custard mix consisting of 4 eggs, 3 cups of milk and 2 tblsp of honey on top...make sure bread is pressed into custard mix...pop in the oven in a bain marie...ya know the one where you have to put the dish in a tray of water...bake until golden brown on top and set...about 40 minutes...and then bob's your uncle, fanny's your aunt (well, not really!) it's done!
enjoy shamelessly...especially after all that intense hard preparation work!