An ode to Peanut Butter.

Oh gosh it's a glorious thing is it not?

Yesterday I sat, by the computer, avoiding university work by clicking endless links to food blogs,

(oh you simply must go here by the way David Lebovitz is mesmerising...)

dreaming of what I was going to bake next and frothing somewhat obscenely over cakes and recipes perfected by the famous boys of  "Baked" bakery in New York.

Suddenly I came by an urge. An insatiable urge.

Peanut Butter.

I had to have it!

Now, I'm one of those people, and I'm often told it's rather strange, but I love to go into the pantry, get the peanut butter (I'm partial to smooth but crunchy is just fiiine.) whipe out a mumma of a tablespoon and scoop the salty gooey caramel coloured goodness out and eat it straight from the tub. No frills, just peanut butter.

Seriously though how good is the stuff?

If I were to be a baby again, this should be the photo my parents look back on most fondly.

And if I were somehow to become a canine, (more specifically a corgie) I would spend  my days doing just this...

Anyway, enough of the endless ranting. My peanut butter obsession yesterday was just not satisfied by a mere peanut-butter+spoon = happiness adventure. I wanted cookies filled with peanut butter. And choc chips.

So I made them.

And here is the recipe. (If you'd like me to bake them for you, send me an email! Slash send me any peanut butter related recipes...I'm dying to try everything peanut + butter + saturated fat related)

Happy Baking!

From smittenkitchen's recipe for peanut butter cookies....

*I omitted the salt because there's so much salt in the peanut butter (and if you're like me you use salted butter) you just don't need it. I'd prefer to clog my arteries with chocolate instead.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook

One and One Quarter cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

Three Quarters of a teaspoon baking soda

One half a teaspoon baking powder

Half a cup unsalted butter, softened

One cup peanut butter at room temperature (any type of peanut butter is a-okay)

Three Quarters of a cup white/raw sugar

Half a cup firmly packed light brown sugar

One large egg, at room temperature

One tablespoon milk

One teaspoon vanilla extract

Three Quarters of a cup chocolate chips

For sprinkling: Put some brown sugar/white sugar/raw sugar/icing sugar in a little dish. All of these together or just one is fine. :)

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy.
Add the sugars and beat until smooth.
Add the egg and mix well.
Add the milk and the vanilla extract.
Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.
Using a fork, lightly indent with a crisss-cross pattern or, like I did, if you have any peanuts lying around break them to form two little pretty halves and press them into the top. 
Don't flatten them too much because these bad boys SPREAD.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.


Eat with a glass of milk! MILK IS NECESSARY!

New Project!

Good evening Cookie Monsters. :)

This is a little newsflash to a little business adventure that I'm in the process of.

But, the most important part of getting it off the ground is...well...to be blunt...you!

Yes you I need all of you lovely baking enthusiasts to jump on my bake-wagon and come along for a ride that will not only tickle your tastebuds, but save you time!

If you don't consider yourself fully competent in the kitchen, but find yourself drooling over an upside down pineapple cake in Gourmet Traveller, or that decadent triple chocolate mousse tart you so happened to stumble across on taste.com.au, then look no further!

I have a suggestion; you send me the recipe, I look at the recipe, I price the recipe if there are any far out ingredients (I'm looking scathingly at intolerants here, out to "soy"-il my perfectly dairy-licious recipes...) and then I bake it, and then, I send it to you!

I know this is horribly exclusive to Brisbane people, but hey, support me and I may grow!

So here's hoping you email me! send all recipes to the_cookiejar@live.com.au please.

I love you all baking enthusiasts!

Apologies...But this will make up for it.

So I've been absent from the realm that is "blog".

Sorry...... :(

The only reason I haven't been posting is not because I have put away by butter, flour, eggs and sugar, but merely because I have just been busy doing various things in various places and employing a various state of mind in this world that is full of...well...variety.

But, all is not lost! I have decided to make-up for my absence with an incredible recipe. Yes, it really is just purely incredible.

My thighs are enlarging merely contemplating the ingredients but you know what, for the sake of this cake, 

I JUST DON'T CARE.

and neither should you...ever.

The provider of this incredible recipe was in fact "the baking obsession" blog, an incredible blog by a truly talented baker. That's for darn tootin' certain!

Yay! Baking!

It's a cake for all those people whose mum used to make them an afternoon snack of apples and cheese together when they came home from school. The combination of the sweetness and acidity of fruit with the nuttiness and savoury of the cheddar in this recipe makes this cake simply melt in your mouth yum. yum get in my tum!

Enough rambling. On with the show!

APPLE AND CHEDDAR CAKE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING

For the streusel topping:

• ½ cup all-purpose flour


• 2 tbsp granulated sugar


• 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar


• 1/8 tsp salt


• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick; 55g) unsalted butter, cold


• 1 oz extra-sharp cheddar, finely grated

For the filling:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter


• ¼ cup packed light brown sugar


• 20 oz (about 4 medium) cooking apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced thinly crosswise


• Zest of ½ lemon


• 2 oz extra-sharp cheddar, coarsely grated or finely chopped

For the cake batter:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 ½ tsp baking powder


• ½ tsp baking soda


• ¾ tsp salt


• ½ cup buttermilk


• 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract


• 4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature


• ½ cup granulated sugar


• ½ cup packed light brown sugar


• 2 large eggs


• Zest of ½ lemon


• ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

Make the streusel topping:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, both sugars, and salt. Add the cubes of cold butter and work them into the flour using a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the cheese. Cover and refrigerate until needed, up to a couple of days.

Make the filling:

Melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over the medium-high heat. Add the brown sugar. Cook until a grainy sauce forms, about 1 minute. Mix in the apples. Cook until the apples are tender, translucent and the sauce is reduced to glaze, about 7-10 minutes, stirring often. Add the lemon zest and remove from the heat. Stir in the raisins. Cool completely, and then stir in the cheddar.

Make the cake batter, bake the cake:

Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 375F. Generously butter an 8-inch 3-inch deep springform pan (you can use a 9-inch pan as well (there’re enough batter and filling), but reduce the baking time). Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of parchment paper. Dust with flour, knocking out the excess. Set aside.


Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.


In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract.


In the bowl of the stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand-held electric mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar beating on medium-high speed until well combined, pale in color and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with the flour, until just combined. Stir in the walnuts if using. Transfer about a half of the batter into the prepared pan. Arrange the apple filling on top of the batter leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge. Top with the remaining batter (place the batter in dollops over the filling, starting near the edge to prevent the filling from the contact with the pan sides), then gently smooth the top. Crumble the refrigerated topping over the top of the cake. Place the pan onto a baking sheet and slide into the oven.


Bake the cake until nicely brown and a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1hr-1hr 15 min (about 45 minutes if baking in 9-inch pan). If the top browns too quickly, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil (it is usually required after 40 minutes or so of baking). Cool the cake on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then unmold. Cool until slightly warm on a cooling rack before serving. The cake is also good at room temperature.