Peanut butter square brownies

This weekend I was looking for a package of cinnamon I remember recently buying in my local Moroccan grocery shop. I found it in the back of my cupboard together with a jar of peanut butter that was about to expire in two months. I think I must have bought the jar of peanut butter to make fresh peanut sauce about a year ago and now it was wasting away in a dark corner of my kitchen. The hubby and I don’t like peanut butter on our sandwiches so that was no option. But I felt like brownies and I had a recipe for Nutella marbling lying around in a kitchen drawer. Nutella and peanut butter… sounds a little bit decadent no? Well it was. It was also a very filling brownie, but also very rewarding. There is just something about the salty peanuts together with the creamy chocolate that made my heart beat a little faster.

 INGREDIENTS

6 tablespoons of unsalted, softened butter
280 grams of light brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
150 grams of peanut butter
2 eggs
100 grams of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
¼ teaspoon of salt
80 grams milk chocolate
80 grams of nutella

 Preheat the oven at 180 degrees and line a brownie baking pan with baking paper.

 Take a large mixing bowl and beat the softened butter with the brown sugar into a creamy paste. Now add the vanilla and the peanut butter and mix until combined. Then add the eggs and beat just until everything is combined. Now fold in the baking powder and the salt, just make sure they are thoroughly  mixed in. Now add the flour and mingled it all very well. Now poor the batter into the brownie pan.

 Melt the chocolate au bain marie. When the chocolate is melted, whisk in the nutella till you get some kind of thick syrup. Now marble the peanut butter mixture with the chocolate syrup. The easiest way to do this is using a fork.

 Now place the brownie mixture into the hot oven and bake it for about 30 minutes.

Let the brownies completely cool down before you cut them into squares.

Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream goes Dame Blanche

The past few days, or is it turning weeks already its been pretty hot in Belgium. Tropical I would even dare to call it. Its so hot that we sleep with all the windows open and without sheets. We eat salads and things that don’t make me stand in the kitchen for longer then 15 minutes. My dearly beloved carnivore and husband even agrees to eat mozzarella with tomatoes for diner. That’s how hot it has been the past few days. And when its hot, I crave Ice cream. No wait, that is not entirely true. I crave Ice cream all year round, but on hot days I have an excuse to indulge myself in lots of ice cream. Midwinter people tend to look at me a little strange when I dive into the freezer and come out with a large bucket of ice cream.
When I was a little girl my mom bought an ice cream machine and made some mango sorbet. I was not very into mango at the time, so I just ate a little scoop and gave the rest to my father, who loved it so much that he brought heavy bags of mango home from work. It was actually the only ice cream my mom ever made and the ice cream machine disappeared onto a shell in the kitchen. But it was still in my mind and my love for ice cream made me ask my mom if I could adopt the ice cream maker. So that’s how I became the proud owner of a 15 year old ice cream machine! The hubby and I tried it out a couple of days ago with big eyes. Would it work? But never underestimate a old timer machine made in the 90’s, when machine where still strong and robust. The old lady made some damm fine ice cream! I can tell you, she wont be enjoying a peaceful retirement anytime some.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE VANILLE ICE CREAM

3 dl whole fat milk
4 egg yolks
75 grams of caster sugar
3 dl whipping cream

1 vanilla pod

 

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHOCOLAT SAUCE

100 grams dark chocolate
20 grams butter
1 tablespoon of icing sugar
4 tablespoons of milk

In a large bowl add the sugar and the egg yolks and beat until they are doubled in size and all the sugar is evaporated in the mixture.
Now spoon under the whole fat milk and the whipping cream.
Poor this mixture into the ice machine and let it “cream” for 25 to 30 minutes.
When done place the ice cream for at least 5 hours in the freezer.
The downside on making ice cream yourself is that the ice cream is very rich and creamy, but also very soft. The problem is solved when you freeze the ice cream for at least 5 hours. Then the ice cream gets the hardness that store bought ice has.

In a small saucepan on a low heat melt the chocolate together with the butter. You could do this au bain marie, but sometimes I am just to impatient for that. I don’t like messing around with hundred pots and pan. So for me it works perfectly on a low fire while constantly stirring. When the chocolate has melted remove the sauce from the fire and stir in the icing sugar and the milk. Mix well and poor it over the vanilla ice cream. Top of with some freshly whipped cream and serve immediately.

Banana Split Brownies

The husband did not feel well on Saturday, his throat hurt, his legs were heavy and he was a little tired. By Sunday he was in his sweater on the sofa coughing his lungs out and his temperature went from cold to very hot.
Instead of having a fun weekend with lots of plans and lots of shopping, I transformed into a faithful nurse for the very grumpy patient in my living room.
He drunk the tea with fresh lemon zest and honey  with a long face. The fresh chicken soup with lots of vermicelli got a little more enthusiasm, but nothing could thrill him or make him smile a little.
He stayed a whole day on the cough, slumbering, coughing, and winning because I made him drink orange juice and tea.
So there I was, grounded… well I could just as well experiment a little in my kitchen. Nothing better than a little hocus pocus with my pots and pans.
In my refrigerator I found some bananas which  had seen better days, I also found some mascarpone which was about to expire and  chocolate is a must have in my house. I even have a little chocolate cupboard in my kitchen.
The ingredients reminded me of banana split, the royal wedding of these delicate flavors and one of my favorites on a hot summer night. So banana split brownies It would be!
After the whole house smelled of delicious freshly baked brownies, I could even seduce my sickly husband to take a little nibble of the heavenly pastry. His verdict:  delicious chocolate lushness with a little hint of banana.
Mission accomplished!

INGREDIENTS

150 grams dark chocolate
30 grams milk chocolate
100 grams butter
200 grams sugar
2 bananas
150 grams mascarpone
3 eggs
50 grams cacao powder
60 gram all purpose flour

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees.
Melt the chocolate together with the butter on a low fire or use the au bain marie technique.
In the meanwhile mass the banana.
Now take the melted chocolate away from the heat and pour it into a large bowl or into your food processor.
Now add the sugar to the chocolate mixture and mix it in. The heat of the melted chocolate will make the sugar melt into the dough.
Add the mascarpone and the mashed bananas.
Now add the eggs one by one and turn the food processor to the highest stand.
Wisk everything together.
Sift the flour and the cacao powder and add it to the mixture.

Now pour the batter into a brownie form and bake for about 30 minutes.