Peanutella Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies made with crunchy peanut butter and somewhat subtle dollops of Nutella, which ultimately ballet on your tongue. 
They're THAT good.

I cannot tell you how much I adore peanut butter. I used to not like it once upon a time. In fact, I despised the very thing. Then came a time where anything found in a jar and could be consumed by a spoon was a huge hit as I started university. Spoonfuls of peanut butter whilst studying for my first year exams had become a ritual. That and having a packet of chocolate fingers to dip in a jar full. This is how we students do les examens!

Anyway, it's a known fact that peanut butter goes a bit too well with chocolate. I mean, forget yer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, s'all about pb and Nutella!

And when I realised I could put the two together in my absolute fave biscuit - the cookie - I felt like a kitchen goddess. *Halo appears*

Here's how they were put together:

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter (softish)
200g caster sugar (you can play around if you want it less sweet)
200g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
240g crunchy peanut butter
40g nutella
340g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
85g dark chocolate chips (or chopped)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170C, Gas 3. Fan assisted ovens lower the temp by 10-20C and prepare baking trays with greaseproof/baking paper.
• Using an electric mixer with the paddle or a handheld electric whisk, mix the butter and sugars together until they transform into a wonderful light and fluffy mixture.
• One at a time, crack in the eggs and mix well. Be sure to scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl!
• Turn the mixer down to a slow speed and beat in the vanilla and peanut butter.
• Gradually add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Then add the Nutella - this is actually optional and I only add a little to give it a subtle taste.
• Sprinkle in the chocolate chips - I aways find this the best bit, I don't know why!
• Scoop out equal amounts of the cookie dough on each tray using a tablespoon spoon or scooper. Make sure they're spread apart as they expand while baking.

• Bake for roughly 10 minutes, or until they're golden brown around the edges and quite flat. They will be super soft in the middle but that's what you want. They tend to harden later anyway.
• Cool  the cookies slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies should be nicely soft and chewy and a teeny crunchy on the outside. Mmmmm.

Seriously these literally melt in your mouth when you eat them fresh. I was so pleased with these, I genuinely wanted to marry myself. Yup. I mean being able to bake super soft mouth melting cookies!?! You need magical hands. Oh and maybe this recipe….

So have a go and let me know how it turns out! :)

Dainty cook x

Crème-to-the-Brûlée

Vanilla crème brûlée, with strawberry, white chocolate spoons and a smooth salted caramel disc - topped with crunchy honeycomb pieces. 

Mouth watering yet?


I can't deny that this is one of my ultimate fave desserts. The baked creamy goodness that instantly melts on your tongue, exposing its vanilla flavour as it begins to tango with your tastebuds. Oh but the best part, the fun part, cracking the burnt crunchy sugar with your spoon as you begin to dig in. The smooth and the crisp become an unbeatable fusion of textures.

And it's no wonder it's sort of named after these textures - crème brûlée - 'burnt cream' in French, is the most delicious yet simple of desserts to make and here's how I made it:

Ingredients:

For the vanilla crème brûlée:
440ml double cream
100ml full fat milk
55g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod/3tsp good quality vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

White Chocolate spoons:
200g white chocolate chips

(Smooth) Salted Caramel Disc:
80g salted butter
75g soft light brown sugar
75g caster sugar
120ml cream
1/2tsp sea salt
Honeycomb pieces (bought)

Method:

• Combine the double cream, milk and vanilla extract (or a slit vanilla pod) into a saucepan and leave to the side.
• Separate the yolks from the whites and place in a mixing bowl, adding the caster sugar. The separating is probably the only tricky part to this - well I find it a pain to be honest! Then whisk the yolks and sugar together until pale and slightly fluffy.
• Bring the saucepan onto the heat until the sides begin to bubble a bit.
• Gradually with a hand whisk, stir in the hot cream mix into the egg. You'll see it will foam up once done, try get rid of all the foam with a large spoon.
• Pour into ramekins, jars or a big dish and place these in a ban marie filled with boiled water about 1.5-2cm high and pop it into the oven for 30-35 minutes.
• You want the crème brûlée to be slightly wobbly in the middle and not completely set. Place these in the fridge and scatter teaspoon of caster sugar on the top surface and then blowtorch until its burnt! Do this closer to the serving time and pop 'em back in the fridge.

And that's pretty much it! For the additional extras and decoration:
To make the chocolate spoon:

• Melt white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (water bath) until runny and fill up the spoon moulds, placing them in the fridge.

The smooth salted caramel disc:

• Melt the butter and sugars in a saucepan for 3 minutes or until dissolved, swirling it from time to time.
• Add the cream and sea salt and swirl again - get those hips shaking! I mean, use a wooden spoon to stir the sugar mixture…
• Once amalgamated, taste to check if there's enough salt and then pour into a jug to set!

This makes quite a bit, so you can store it up to a week to use for other nommy desserts. Or you know just to eat with a spoon instead of yer good ol' Ben and Jerry's!

Make a circle onto a serving plate, (I used a cookie cutter) and top with honeycomb pieces. Okay so, I had recently bought some ready made ones from Lakeland and used these, but if you want the homemade recipe check out my Get Loose: Chocolate and Honeycomb Mousse recipe!

That's about it! I added chocolate dots around each component to finish off, as well as a strawberry in each jar, as this creamy concotion goes well with berries and maybe there were some growing in my garden…

Cute little desserts, don't you think?


Dainty Cook x