Banana and Peanut Butter Pancakes

After a long working week, we all crave the break the weekend provides. On Saturday mornings, when Monday still feels distant, there's nothing better than to wake up a bit late and enjoy a relaxing breakfast.

To be honest, I often plan during the weekdays what I will have for the weekends' breakfast; something to do with planning ahead and avoiding wasting time! Quite often, I choose pancakes because they are easy to prepare and can be made with just about any flavor you can imagine.

I have shared several pancake recipes before and experimented with many flavors. This time, I decided to combine the flavor of bananas with that of peanut butter, for a sweet, protein-packed, and healthy start of the day.

For 4 people you need:

• 180 g cake flour
• 2 eggs at room temperature
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 g baking soda and 4 g baking powder
• 30 g brown sugar
• 60 g peanut butter (if it´s too stiff heat it in the microwave for few seconds)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• 50 ml milk (use more if the batter is too thick)
• dash of salt

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda and baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl whisk for a couple of minutes the eggs, banana, peanut butter, vanilla and milk.

Now all you need to do is to mix the wet ingredients with the dry ones, the mixture should be rather thick but liquid enough to be poured on a hot pan.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of the batter on a greased and hot pan. Cook until you see bubbles surfing on the top of the pancake then flip it and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side.

Once you finish baking all the pancakes, serve them warm with some maple syrup, honey, or fresh fruits, and enjoy a comforting and delicious breakfast!

For more breakfast ideas featuring pancakes, check these recipes: here, here, here and here . 

Brownie Cookies with Peanut Butter Filling

Last year's May could not have been any different from the current one. Last year, the weather was warm and towards the end of the month it become seriously hot. The thermometer jumped all the way up to 35 C. As for this year, it´s been raining like crazy. It didn't rain like that even at the height of winter. Though it may sound weird, but I actually enjoy such rainy and cold weather. It invites me to indulge in all sorts of comfort food and especially to bake luscious treats!

The recipe I´m sharing today is one I have been wanting to share for a long time now, but somehow I kept postponing it. With this rainy weather, I think it's the right time to do so. After all, what's better than a chocolaty treat on a rainy day?!

This brownie cookie recipe is inspired by one of Donna Hay's cookie recipes. She filled her brownie cookies with peanut butter and  I really liked the idea. However, I tweaked her recipe using my own version of brownies and filling.

The recipe is really easy and needs few ingredients. So let´s start baking!
For 14 to 15 small cookies you need:

• 1 egg at room temperature
• 100 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or coffee liqueur 
• 110 dark chocolate (I used 74%)
• 20 g butter
• 1/2 tsp coffee powder
• 20 g flour
• 5 g cocoa powder
• dash of salt
• 1/8 tsp baking powder (about 1g)

First combine the chocolate and butter and melt in a microwave, or over a double boiler. If melting in a microwave, put them for 30 sec, then stir. Put for an additional 20 sec if not molten. Repeat until all of the chocolate and butter have melted. Finally add the coffee powder.

Combine all the dry ingredients but the sugar in a bowl and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk the egg, sugar and vanilla, until you get a creamy and pale mixture. On a low speed, add the chocolate mixture gradually. When well combined, fold in the flour mixture.

Place the brownie mix in the fridge for 20 min.

On a pan covered with parchment paper, scoop about one tbsp of the mixture (I used a small ice cream scoop) and drop on the pan. With a little pressure, lightly flatten the brownie ball a bit. Make sure to leave enough space between each one, as the cookies witll xpand during baking. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) for about 8 to 10 min.

Remove the cookies from oven and let them cool for at least 10 min before taking them off the pan.

For the filling you need:

• 75 g peanut butter
• 25 g cream cheese (room temperature)
• 50 g soft butter
• 50 g powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Combine all the ingredients and beat until creamy and fluffy.

Now all you need is to fill the cookies and enjoy with coffee, milk or tea!

These cookies are slightly crunchy on the outside and with a soft and fudgy heart, all chocolate lovers will drool over them; I surely did!

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Caramel Celebration Cake!

I celebrated my birthday this week, and for the first time I have decided that I wanted to make my cake and not let anyone one buy it or make it. 

I wanted to develop a cake that is suitable for special occasions, that carries a wow factor and that is enjoyed by the people you hold the dearest to your heart.
For this I decided to use some of my favorite ingredients: chocolate and peanut butter!

I had a jar of peanut butter that I made a while ago and I used it to make the mini peanut butter cups that I used for the decoration for this cake. I don't have any issue with the ones you can find in the market, but strangely they're pretty hard to find in Madrid, although the normal larger sized-cups are available. I will make a future post on how to make mini chocolate peanut butter cups as they are easy to make and pretty delicious. 

 

The cake itself is not difficult to make but does require several steps. 

The ingredients presented below can be used to prepare a single cake or three thinner individual cakes. I opted for option one and used a 15 cm pan.


For the cake you need (serves 6 to 8):

• 2 eggs at room temperature (abt 60 g each)
• 50 g of unsalted butter and 50 g of peanut butter, melted together (over a gentle flame)
• 100 g melted dark chocolate (I used chocolate with a minimum of 70% cocoa solids)
• 130 g brown sugar (I used panela sugar, you can use castor sugar too)
• 120 g flour
• 5 g of baking power and 2 g of baking soda
• 1 tbsp of bourbon or vanilla extract
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 125 g yogurt (or cream)
• dash of salt 

For the sponge cake, first combine all the dry ingredient, mix well and set aside. Beat the eggs slowly start adding the sugar. Keep beating until the egg mixture doubles in volume and becomes rather thick, then add  the bourbon or the vanilla. 

Add the chocolate and mix at low speed. Pour the melted butter and peanut butter slowly and mix till well combined. 
Fold in the flour mixture using a spatula, then slowly mix the yogurt, again using a spatula.

Pour the mixture in the prepared (greased and lined with parchment paper) pan and bake for about 40 to 50 min in a preheated oven (180C).

For the buttercream frosting you need:

• 115 g butter (room temperature)
• 115 g peanut butter (room temperature)
• 200 g of powdered sugar
• tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 tbsp of cream or milk

Combine the butters and sugar and start mixing at the lowest speed. This prevents making a mess in your kitchen. As the sugar is mixed into the butter, increase the speed until the mixture becomes lighter in color. Add the vanilla and the milk or cream. You can add more or less cream depending on the final texture you are looking for, but of course you want to use this cream for frosting so it shouldn't be runny! 

For the caramel you need

• 75 g sugar
• 30 g cold butter
• 100 ml heavy cream
• dash of salt
• 1 tbsp of bourbon

Here you can find the steps you need to follow to make the caramel. Do note that for this specific caramel you don't need to add water. Once you add the cream add the bourbon and let the caramel simmer and stir every other while to make sure everything is combined!

Assembling the cake:

Cut the cake into 3 layers. Try to make the layes even, but if they aren't exactly the same thickness it's not a big issue. Brush each layer with a bit of caramel. Put a layer of the buttercream on the base layer of cake and top with the middle layer. Repeat the process with the middle layer. Frost the whole cake and decorate as you see fit.

As you can notice I covered the frosting with the bourbon caramel and the peanut cups I made. You can do the same or just serve the caramel with the cake, it's up to you! 

This decadent cake is surely a festive one and meant to be shared during special occasions. Try it next time you have a special day you want to celebrate and you will surely impress!