Peanut Butter Banana Fudge Muffins

These right here are a little variation of my banuffins you liked so much.

I'd love to say they were born from a culinary stroke of genius, but that would be a big, chubby fib. The truth be told, I drunkenly finished off the Nutella tub with a teaspoon the night before I'd planned to bake a batch for Sunday brunch.

Hungover, desperate (and a little disgusted with myself), I reached for the Skippy.

The method's exactly the same as before, but since my Banuffin post I've been adding Xanthan Gum to the mix for the benefit of us gluten free'ers.

If you're using normal flour then leave out the gum. If you're using gluten free flour like me, then just a 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff goes a very long way. It reduces crumbling and makes your muffins good 'n' squidgy for a few more days. Win.

You know the drill by now. For 12 muffins, here's what you need:

4 overly ripe bananas, mashed

6 tbsp crunchy peanut butter, I like the Skippy variety

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g fudge pieces (I get mine from here)

2 eggs
120g melted salted butter
225g self raising flour
170g granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Whack the oven up to 180C and grease your muffin tray.

Grab two mixing bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet stuff. In one, combine your flour, sugar, salt and Xanthan Gum if you're going gluten free.

In the other bowl, mash your bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir in the eggs, melted butter, fudge chunks and vanilla before sifting in the dry ingredients. 

Divide your mixture into twelve and pop a dollop of peanut butter on top.



Gently swirl the peanut butter into the mixture with a cocktail stick or skewer and bake in your pre-warmed oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Leave them to cool in the tray for a couple of minutes before easing them out one by one with a spoon. Serve whilst warm with big mugs of coffee and get creating crumbs!

Salted Peanut & Chocolate Fudge Sundaes

When the time calls for a day in the kitchen, whipping this, chilling that, stirring furiously and watching the timer tick by, it had better be for something special.

I'm all for putting in the leg work when it comes to a show-stopper of a meal, but my favourite recipes tend to be as simple as they are delicious.

This, my friend, is exactly that. And it couldn't be more utterly satisfying.

 

Spoonful upon spoonful of ice cream drenched in warm peanut and chocolate sauce and crunchy peanuts makes this the ultimate after supper treat.

Nobody judges you for licking the bowl on this blog. Nobody at all.

To make two large sundaes you're going to need:

175ml double cream

100g smooth peanut butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup

150g chopped milk chocolate

4 scoops caramel ice cream

4 scoops chocolate ice cream

4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Big handful of salted peanuts, bashed into crumbs

In a saucepan over a low heat, add your cream, peanut butter, golden syrup and milk chocolate, stirring until totally combined.

When it's thick, glossy and 100% delicious, it's done. Simple as that.

Now go fetch your prettiest glasses.

Starting with the vanilla, layer your ice cream scoop on scoop (on scoop on scoop...)

When your glasses are full, drizzle over your chocolatey, peanuty sauce and quickly top with crushed peanuts. (I usually pop mine in a plastic bag and batter it with a rolling pin a few times - no washing up, no spilt nuts, no grumpy Charlotte. Win.)

And that is pretty much it.

Nestle down on a comfy chair, grab a loved one and chow down.

Just remember to jar your leftover fudge sauce, stow it away at the back of the fridge and keep it hidden away for a particularly rainy day.

 

I'll take mine smothered on toast and topped with chopped banana, please!

Chocolate & Hazelnut Hunks

These cookies have altered my life. And maybe my dress size.

 

Chunks of crunchy, hazelnutty, chewy cookie, stuffed with pools of rich dark chocolate & a shortbread-esq buttery crust. Straight from my kitchen to your oven.

I like to bake a batch of these on Sunday mornings and stash them away for a naughty weekday treat. There's nothing in this world which makes jump out of bed on a Monday morning faster than a hunk, not even the manly, rugged breed.

What can I say? Hazelnuts and chocolate do it for me.

For 20 of your own delicious little hunks, go grab yourself: 

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

170ml Carnation Condensed Milk

350g self-raising flour, sifted

175g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids min), chopped

100g hazelnuts, roasted and chopped
A few sheets of cling film

Each batch makes enough dough for two sittings. I keep half of my dough wrapped in cling film, tucked away at the back of the fridge in the event of an emergency, (discovering TOWIE has clashed with Law & Order, a missing iPhone charger...)

I'd suggest you do the same.

Righto. In a bowl, cream together your sugar and butter until pale and smooth.

Pour in the condensed milk with or without singing high-low-chicka-low.

Give it a good whisk, sift in your flour and stir as you go.

When it begins to form a dough-like substance, grab your nuts.

Toast them over a low heat for a couple of minutes until they're good and hot.



And whizz them up in a processor until broken up but still chunky.

Pour your crumbled hazels into your cookie dough and fetch your chocolate.

Chop into bite size chunks and invite it into the mix.

Stir it all together until well combined and looking fine and dandy.

Empty it out onto a flat surface...

Divide into two even balls...

And roll them out into sausage shapes.

Pop your cookie sausage on top of a sheet of cling film and wrap it up nice and tightly.

Repeat with the remaining ball of cookie dough.



Pop them in the fridge for as long as possible, but even one hour will work wonders.

Now, the hard part. Stay busy, stay strong & whatever you do, stay away from the cookie dough. Ten minutes before cooking time, preheat the oven to 180C.

When it's thoroughly chilly grab one cookie sausage from the fridge & a sharp knife.

Chop your dough into chunky segments, around ten cookies per roll.

Pop them on a baking tray and into the oven for ten minutes or until slightly tanned but gooey in the centre. They will continue to harden whilst cooling, so even if you think they're not ready just yet, chances are they're pretty darn perfect.

Leave them to cool and serve up with jars of frothy ice cold milk.

The remaining cookie sausage will keep for a whole week at the back of the fridge, however if it manages to survive that long I would strongly suggest you see some kind of professional doctor immediately.

Hunky dory.

Raspberry Fluffingtons

Fluffingtons are a little bit like dolled up crispy cakes.

You remember the good old fashioned crispy cake, right? A bowl of rice crispies, a glug of melted chocolate and a bit of stirring action, yes?

Well, if you've never tasted a crispy cake before, you've not missed much. Allow me to introduce you to her younger, sexier sister who's approximately ten times as naughty and a million per cent more lip smackingly irresistible.

Boys and girls, meet the Raspberry Fluffington.

Ultra gooey, chewy chunks of crackly rice puffs drenched in a smooth marshmallow gloop with a subtle raspberry zing. I know, I know. Life will never be the same again.

To make around 20 bite size squares, pop these on the shopping list:

2 tubs of plain Marshmallow Fluff
250g Rice Crispies
A good knob of butter
Freeze dried raspberries (I buy mine from Waitrose for about £2 a tube)
A drop of pink food colouring
1 tsp good quality vanilla extract
100g melted white chocolate (I used a lush white choc & strawb combo)

H'okay. Grab your fluff.

 

 

Scoop it all out into a large saucepan over a low heat with your melted butter. Leave it to melt for a minute or two and stir it all together until well combined and fully white.

 

 

 

Add your vanilla, give it one final stir and take it off the heat.

 

At this stage I like to grab my proverbial skates from the shoe cupboard and pop them on. Before the fluff begins to firm up, pour in your crispies and give it a good stirrin'.

 

 

 

As soon as it's coated nice and evenly, grab your freeze dried raspberries.

 

 

Sprinkle a small handful into your marshmallow mixture, around quarter of a tube.

 

 

Add a few drops of your food colouring and give it a gentle stir. You don't want the whole thing pink, so move your spoon in a twirly whirly (technical term) motion.

 

 

Done? Good stuff.

Tip your pinky gloop out into a lined baking tray. I use a deep square tin to get my squares good 'n' chunky. I like my fluffingtons like I like my cats. Chubby.

 

 

Pat it down with a spatula so it's tightly packed in your tin.

 

And scatter a few more of your freeze dried raspberries over the top.

 

Pop your parcel of deliciousness in the fridge. Now, melt your chocolate.

This stuff right here is the bomb digity. It's essentially white chocolate mixed with freeze dried strawberries, so if you're feeling creative, use normal white chocolate and add the rest of your raspberries.
 

 

However you do it, drizzle it all over your chilled square in messy lines.

Pop it back in the fridge for another couple of hours (or overnight if possible) until it's fully set and you physically cannot wait another second to sample your goodies.

When it's ready, chop it into even chunks, stand back and admire your handiwork.

Serve with warm milk, big mugs of hot chocolate or a steaming pot of tea.

 

 

And of course, you can 'fluff' these up any way you like. I've used chocolate chips and hazelnuts, coconut, banana chips and drizzled Nutella, walnuts and toffee sauce...

 

The combinations are endless.

 

Enjoy!