Peanut Butter Blondie

Although they're only a distant memory now (I'm behind on my food blogging), I recently tried another item from my "Recipes to Try" list, Slow Like Honey's Peanut Butter Blondies.

R loves anything peanut butter, so he was a willing participant in making this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup peanut butter- crunchy or creamy
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped salted peanuts
6 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9 inch square (I only have an 8 inch square) baking pan with foil, butter foil, and put pan on baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and peanut butter on medium speed until smooth.



Add both the sugars and beat for 1 to 2 minutes, until well incorporated into the butter.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough.

If the chunky ingredients aren’t mixed in after a few seconds, just finish the job with a sturdy spatula- don’t overmix the dough. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan.



Bake the blondies for 40 to 50 minutes, or until they turn a deep honey brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.



When it is completely cool, carefully lift the blondies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and turn them out onto a rack. Peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Use a long knife to cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 and ¼ inches on a side.



Wrapped well, these blondies will keep for about 3 days at room temperature or for up to 2 month in the freezer. I put the blondies in the container below for freezing.

Roasted Chicken and Mushroom Sauce

I tend to fish for compliments from R when we're eating a meal. "Do you like the dish?" "What is your favourite dish that I make?"

On Sunday, his answer to the latter question was "hotdogs on the bbq". Great. His favourite dish is some nitrate filled pre-packed food that he usually makes on the bbq.

Coming in second is a spiced chicken stuffed with priscuto and cheese in a white wine sauce that is pan seared and then finished in the oven.

So, I decided to make a chicken recipe in a wine sauce and came up with roast chicken covered in a mushroom and port sauce. I still have port left over from New Year's when I made Bruschetta .

Quick port story before I get to the recipe. When I lived in London, I worked at a wine bar for about 4 months. It was my first exposure to wine. Mainly, teaching me that I like to drink it.

One day, I was working the morning shift (7:30-4:00). Two ladies came in the bar, which is also a restaurant during the day. I went to take their breakfast order. Here was the exchange:

Customer: Hi. I'd like a port urlgrady and a cote. (said in a thick Scottish accent)

Me: Ok. One moment please. (I walk back to the bar and say to my Aussie supervisor -- what is a port ulgrady and a cote? He says - I don't know, take the menu to them and ask them to point out what they wany. But tell them that we don't serve alcohol before 11am).

(I return to the table)

Hi. I have the menu here, maybe you could point to what you would like to order. We have port tawny..I don't know about urlgrady. But, we don't servce alcohol until 11am. It's only 8:30am.

Customer: (staring at me blankly) NOOO! We want a port of earl grey tea and a coooke.

Me: (laughing hysterically). OOOHH. A pot of earl grey tea and a coke. Ok.

Just when I thought I was good with accents, I made an ass out of myself.

Roast Chicken in a Mushroom Port Sauce with Oven Baked Sliced Potatoes

- One chicken (maybe 3 pounds)

I use a similar recipe Giz's roast chicken. But I use more spices on the outside of the chicken -- usually mashed together in a mortar and pestal: mixed-coloured peppers, kosher salt, onion powder, garlic, spicy paprika, etc. Inside the carcass, I put lemon juice, an entire lemon, parsley and rosemary.

For the mushroom sauce, I started off with two shallots and 3 cloves of garlic. I sauted that in olive oil for a minute or so and then added about 7 medium cremini mushrooms, sliced.





After the mushrooms are cooked, I remove them from the frying pan and then add about 1/3 of a cup of port. Next time, I'll probably make it more like 1/2 cup of port, to sweeten up the sauce a bit. I let the port reduce for a couple of minutes



Then I added some chicken soup broth. After a minute or so, I added the mushroom, garlic and shallot mixture back into the sauce and added a couple tablespoons of flour to thicken the sauce (stir well).



I added some parsley and salt and pepper to taste. The mushroom port sauce made for a great topping on the chicken. Served with oven potatoes.

Death By Chocolate: Double Chocolate Cake

Soft, sweet goodness. Double chocolate heaven. Why oh why did I make a chocolate cake? It was a whim, really. Unfortunately, it's really good too! Oh chocolate cake gods...why couldn't you make this cake gross? Then there wouldn't be any temptation. Damn Hershey's Classic Recipes.



I'm submitting this cake post to the Death by Chocolate food blog event. Voting starts on February 4th. So, please vote for me!

Vote for me in the Death by Chocolate contest

Hershey's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.



Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.



3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks.



Cool completely. Frost with Chocolate Frosting recipe, below. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.