Eric Lanlard's Peanut Butter Blondies

The new series of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard started on 5th March at 12:05pm on Channel 4 and will be on every week day for 4 weeks. If you haven't seen the programme before, Eric bakes sweet treats ranging from simple, but delicious home baking recipes to his beautifully crafted signature desserts. 

Each episode will also feature three members of the public who will come to his cookery school and take part in a bake off. Various bloggers have also been invited to take up the challenge to bake one of Eric's culinary creations in their own home and enter into a virtual bake off. 

I chose to bake Peanut Butter Blondies as we all love brownies, but had never tried blondies before. 10 year old Miss Kahonie helped me bake and decorate them, and I think she did a pretty good job; She also did a good job of licking the bowls clean! 
The recipe was spot on (including the cooking time), and I'm very happy with the resulting blondies, which are suitably peanut-buttery, moist and chewy - what's left of them anyway!

Peanut Butter Blondies

Makes 12

• 100g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing the tray
• 150g crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 75g white chocolate, plus extra to decorate
• 75g walnut halves, chopped plus extra to decorate
• 125g plain flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• Dark chocolate melted, to decorate.
• White chocolate chips, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Grease a 20cm/ 8-inch square tin with butter and line the base with baking paper.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter together until creamy, using an electric hand whisk at medium speed. Add the vanilla, sugar and the egg, and beat again until light and fluffy.

Chop up the white chocolate and stir into the mixture along with the chopped walnuts.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and fold in, using a large metal spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake the mixture in the middle of the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until it has a nice golden crust but is still fudgy in the middle.

Leave to cool in the tin. Decorate with white chocolate chunks and walnut pieces and drizzle over some melted dark chocolate. Cut into squares and serve.  

"Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is a beautifully produced series that balances inspiration with information, engaging the viewer to try new things to add to their baking repertoire. Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard is sponsored by Bakingmad.com, an inspirational online community of over 100,000 members sharing a wealth of information, recipes, hints, tips and advice."

Integrity Statement
This is a sponsored post, for which I have received free cooking ingredients and 2 free cook books. The views expressed are genuinely those of myself and my family.
Recipe reproduced by kind permission of Baking Mad.

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My first, my latest and my favourite!

http://wedonteatanythingwithaface.blogspot.com/2011/04/chocolate-cornflake-crunchies-vegan.html

I'm talking about cookbooks, of course!
I initially thought this might be a good topic to kick off my first ever blog hop, but then decided that might be a tad too specific for some of you, so I settled on the subject of My First, My Latest and My Favourite (anything)...

Why cookbooks? Well, Cass from Frugal Family recently blogged about her first ever cookbook. Memories came flooding back about my first recipe book, which I still have. It's The Children's Cookery Book by Zita Alden and Yvonne Bourbon (published in 1973) which my older cousin, Jane, passed down to me.

This book is a real piece of 70's culinary and social history, with a foreword from Ed (Stewpot) Stewart, bright almost garish pictures, handy tips for kids on how to wash up, and helpful comments from 'Molly Mistake' who always gets things wrong when she's cooking. The recipes themselves are traditional British budget  family meals plus desserts, cakes and sweets.

One of my favourite recipes from the book is Chocolate Crunchies which was a staple at most of my own birthday parties, and one that still goes down well with my kids and their friends.

My latest and my current favourite cookbook are one and the same...Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian, which I received as a Christmas present. I know I've already given this book a free plug, but every recipe I've tried from the book has worked out really well, and (more importantly) has been eaten and enjoyed by all the family. I reckon this book will stand the test of time, and will be one of my all time favourite cook books.

Although I very rarely manage to stick to a recipe without feeling the need to tweak something, I've more or less stuck to each recipe I've tried from this book, as I tend to like the ingredients and have them all to hand. Tonight's dinner consisted of Rose Elliot's Spinach Tart, which to my amazement was met with rave reviews by all the family. The kids have even managed to follow a few of the recipes themselves, with only a little help from me.

One of my favourite recipes from the book so far is Stuffed Aubergines with Peppers and Feta, as this contains 3 of my favourite ingredients. It makes a really tasty meal served with rice or pasta.

So it's over to you. Share Your First, Your Latest and Your Favourite, by clicking on the Linky below...your post doesn't have to be about cookbooks or even books, so let your imagination run wild and get hopping! Links need to be in by 20th Feb 2011. Remember to 'get the code' below and link back to this post from yours to keep the hop going! {LINKY CLOSED} Pin It

Rose Elliot's Cheese Scones

I was very happy to receive a hard back copy of Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian cook book for Christmas (from Mr O). As you can imagine, I have a fair collection of cook books, some of which I use regularly and some of which gather dust before taking a trip to the local charity shop!

I already own a couple of Rose's books, but the great thing about this book, is that it covers everything from starters and soups to main courses and puddings and the majority of recipe use everyday ingredients. I've tried a few recipes so far, and they've all been simple to prepare, and have worked really well.

When Miss Ony asked to make some cheese scones this evening, I was confident that I'd be able to find a recipe she could follow in the book...and I was right!

The recipe is as follows:

• 200g/8oz SR flour
• 50g/2oz butter
• 100g/4oz grated cheese (we used a mixture of gruyere and strong cheddar)
• ½ tsp mustard powder (we also added ½ tsp paprika)
• 150ml/10 tbsp milk

Miss Ony used the food processor to mix the butter, mustard, paprika and flour, she then added the cheese and mixed it in.

She carefully measured out the milk and added it a little at a time, but found that 10 tbsp was exactly the right amount to make a firm dough.

She rolled out the dough to around 2cm thick and cut out the scones with a round biscuit cutter - the mixture made 8 large scones.

She baked these for 15 mins at 200C/Gas 6. Smaller scones would obviously cook quicker.

The scones were delicious served warm with soup.
The remaining scones will be used up in packed lunches this week. Pin It

Hello

Hello and welcome to my first post on my first blog!
I've started this blog as a way to share recipes, tips and ideas with other vegetarian, vegan (and non-veggie) families who like tasty home-cooked food. Most of my recipes will be quick and cheap to make, and will be ideal for busy parents on a budget.

I'll also be printing off my favourite family recipes, to make a recipe book for my kids to take with them when they leave home!

If you have any ideas, recipes or resources to share please feel free to post them. Pin It