lunes, 23 de mayo de 2011

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter-(white or dark) Chocolate chip cookies: 
The best thankyou gift ever... just add the girly twirly ribbons and the "Wisteria Lane" looking-like basket...


I could consider myself an expert by now on baking these peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies, as  I have baked them about four times in the past two weeks! And I never get tired of wipping my finger in the yummy scrummy cookie dough.....


These cookies are an all-time American favourite, with it's crucnhy peanuty texture and the wistful combination between both dark and white chocolate flavours... I'm starting to fly off tto the Olympus of cookies... Peanut butter cookies could consider themselves Zeus "father of all cookies and man-kind" in the greek mythology...


So, what about I stop flying off to the Olympus and tell you how they're made?! 




Ingredients:

  • 225g unsalted butter (I recomend at room temperature)
  • 200 g white sugar
  • 200 g brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon of almond exctract
  • About 4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
  • 340 g plain flour
  • 2 and 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
  • A pinch of salt
  • Dark chocolate (chopped)
  • White chocolate (chopped)
How it's made:

First of all, preheat the oven to about 200ºc (You'll lower the temperature down at 170ºc when you put the cookies in)

Put the butter and both sugars in a bowl and mix well together until light and fluffy-puffy (I recomend you use an electric mixer/minipimer to do so).
Add the eggs one at a time, beating themand mixing well after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla and almond extract and the  4 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter (It depends on how you like it... you can always put more or less peanut butter in, you don't have to follow the recipe word for word!)

Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until you are left with a soft and smooth dough.

Divide the dough into two separate bowls. In one bowl, you will mix the white chocolate chips and in the other, you will mix the dark ones.
Prepare baking trays lined with greaseproof paper (so the cookie dough balls won't stick to the tray when baking) and arrange about 6 balls spaced apart to enable them to spread while baking.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or whengolden brown around the edges.
Leave the cookies to cool down before you enjoy them and fly up ti the Olympus with me!

Lots of love, Dessert Disaster XXXXX

Re-invented Bannana Bread

Bannana Bread:

Let's face it, we all fall into the latter group of comfort seekers. And why am I saying this, you may ask? Well, I believe lacking the time or patience to bake unecesary complex recipes, makes us buy horrible junky falseys*.

*(Junkey Falseys= Plastic-tasting, chemicle-filled, unidentified tasteful cakes and sweets...)

That is why I am proud to re-inforce my traditional Bannana Cake, with that extra-moist, warm comfort, that can be enjoyed with a cup of tea or a glass of milk (or, why not, even ice cream!). So eeeeeasy to make, so quick to bake!

Ps: So many variations can be invented and re-invented!! Just add some extra ingredients (Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Caramel Walnut, Butterscotch Caramel and Walnut...) to the basic dough and... voilà!

My first deliciously devil-sweetened "healthy" Bannana Bread:


  • 280g of all-prupose flour
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • A pinch of salt
  • 140g of salted butter, softened.
  • 270g cup of light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 200g mashed bananas (Remember: They must be very ripe!)
  • 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon of honey (to give it a sweet twist)
  • Chopped walnuts
  • 1/3 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon


So here comes the adventure....

Before putting all the ingredients together  in one large bowl, I mixed and matched, I cut, I mashed, I chopped (few... nearly left  my fingers on the chopping board... ) I preheated the oven 200cº  to enable the banana loaf to grow into a yummy size!

In a bowl beat the sugar and eggs until well incorported and fluffy.
Chop the bannanas into tiny pieces  and put them in a bowl. Add the honey (So the bannanas will absorve the sweetness in it and will give the bread a twist)
Mix the fruit and honey together with an electric mixer and add some milk so the mixing is easier and the result much more smooth. Set that aside too.
Add the fruit into the egg mixture and set aside.

Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mixture. Mix** well until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. 

**(It's good arm and shoulder exercice.... There, now you've got a good excuse so you won't feel bad when cheating on your diet and eating this heavenly tasting bread!!)

 Mmmmmmmmm..... I am just trying the dough and it is absolutely A-mazing!! :)

Finally, chop the walnuts (they are optional but I would put them in, as they are a sort of... solid surprise you discover every time you chew on the exquisite master piece! - I am getting rather inspired!)
Add the chopped walnuts and stir.
Then pour the masterpiece into the buttered rectangular base and put it in the oven.

Let the bannana bread baby bake for about 45-60 minutes or until firm to the touch and the fork incserted in the centre comes out clean. (But do be carefull not burn the dessert!)

After you've taken the bread out of the oven, let it cool down for a while so you can then enjoy a "healthy" devil-sweetened bannana bread full of exquisitiviness, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm......
It will fly you up to heaven!



Yours faithfully, the Dessert Disaster.
XXX :)