1 single pie crust to fit a 9 inch deep pie tin

I had some leftover brownie batter the other day, as you do . . . and I wanted to do something unusual with it. (I know . . . what kind of person has leftover brownie batter? ME, that's who!)



Anyways, we(I) fancied a pie . . . or a cake . . . or something inbetween. And, well . . . you know how it is . . . peanut butter and chocolate just go so very fantastically well together, don't they?



And so I came up with this torte, which is like a cross between a cake and a pie. It's round like a pie. It's round like a cake. But that's where the similarity to either one ends.



It's soft and fudgily scrummilicous!



Each bite has all the moreish qualities of a chocolate brownie, but also the tastiness of a peanut butter cookie.




The only way it could taste any better is with a nice scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice cream on top . . . and some fudge sauce drizzled over it all . . . but I didn't have any.

We had to make do with clotted cream. Oh ♥ ♥ ♥ the pain of it all!



*Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Brownie Torte*
Serves 8
Printable Recipe

Peanut Butter and Chocolate are a marriage made in heaven. This is a tasty, moist brownie pie, just stogged full of peanut butter cookie dough. Oh so scrummy. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream to serve if you dare!

For the Brownie part:
3 ounces continental style dark chocolate (at least 70%cocoa solids)
3 ounces butter (1/4 cup plus 2 TBS)
2 large free range eggs
1 TBS vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
12 ounces of sugar (1 1/3 cup approx.)
6.5 ounces plain flour (1 1/4 cups)

For the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough part:
8 ounces creamy peanut butter (1 cup)
2 ounces caster sugar (1/4 cup)
2.5 ounces soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup)
4 TBS butter, melted
2 TBS plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 large free range egg, beaten

Vanilla Bean Ice cream to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 inch round baking tin and line with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper. Set aside.

Make the brownie batter. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan, stirring until smooth and amalgamated. Stir in the sugar, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the flour. Set aside.

Cream together the peanut butter and sugars for the cookie dough part. Stir in the beaten egg, butter and vanilla. Stir in the flour.

Drop the peanut butter batter into the prepared pan in mounds spaced somewhat apart. Drop the brownie batter in between the peanut butter mounds. Drag a knife through to swirl the batters together somewhat and then smooth the top over.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until completely set and shiny on top. Allow to cool completely before slicing into wedges to serve. A scoop of vanilla ice cream goes very well!

I've always been a firm believer in making lemonade when I have lemons, and I have a rather lot of them in the larder right now.

A hangover from thinking that I had a cold coming on. When I think I am going to get a cold, I always drink lemon and ginger tea . . . homemade of course, and . . . 99% of the time it holds the cold at bay.



Anyways, it's not lemonade season . . . alas. So I didn't make lemonade . . . but I did make lemon curd, (My recipe for that is here) which is my second favourite thing to do with lemons . . .



And . . . when life hands you lemon curd . . . you do what any self respecting cook must do . . .



You make a lemon cake. But not just any lemon cake . . . oh no . . .



A lemon cake filled with a delicious coconut streusel, little pockets of lemon curd and more streusel on top. Not to mention a tasty lemon glaze . . .



And then you do something else . . .



You eat it. It was very . . . very . . . good.



*Lemon Coconut Layered Cake*
Makes one 9 inch cake
Printable Recipe


Deliciously moist cake filled with lemon curd and a coconut streusel, with more streusel on top. You can toast the coconut if you wish before using it in the streusel. This is a great brunch cake!

Streusel:
70g flour
2 1/2 ounces caster sugar (about 70g) (1/3 cup plus 1 tsp)
3 TBS butter
a large handful of sweetened flaked coconut
(Approx. 1/2 cup)
Cake:
315g flour (approx 2 1/2 cups)
200g sugar (a scant cup)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 ounces softened butter (170g) (3/4 cup)
6 ounces vanilla yoghurt (about 170g) (3/4 cup)
1 TBS lemon juice
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
milk
Filling:
1/2 cup lemon curd (about 4 dessert spoons)
Glaze:
70g icing sugar (scant 2/3 cup)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp water

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Grease and flour a 9 inch cake tin with a loose bottom. Set aside.

Make the streusel by combing the flour and sugar in a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the coconut, toasted or not as you wish.

Combine all the cake ingredients in a large bowl. Beat well together until combined, adding as much milk as is needed to create a thick batter. Spread 2 cups of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with 2/3 of the streusel.

Dot the lemon curd by 1/2 tsp all over the top of the streusel, to within 1/2 inch of the edges of the pan. Spoon the remaining batter over top. Sprinkle with the remaining third of the streusel.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing sides. Combine the glaze ingredients until smooth and then drizzle it over the warm cake. Serve warm.



 

Happy Anniversary to me and the Toddster today, and Congratulations to  Cindy  
who wrote:

"collecting cookbooks....it's in the blood....must...have....lol xxoo"

When we lived down in Kent we were really spoiled. We were surrounded by Orchards and in the autumn had our pick of windfalls . . . several varieties of apples, and pears . . . not to mention hedgerows filled to over flowing with sloes and blackberries



On the Estate where I worked as the cook we also had apples, pears, figs and fresh plums as well, not to mention cages filled with raspberries . . . yes, we were very lucky!



When we moved back here to Chester, in our effort to be self sustaining we put in several fruit trees. Dwarf apple, pear and plum, all self propagating. Next year we hope to put in an apricot tree and perhaps some raspberry and blackberry canes. We are lucky enough to already have strawberries and rhubarb.



I hadn't really expected to get much out of the fruit trees this first year but imagine my surprise when the plum tree produced some plums! We have been waiting patiently all summer for them to ripen, and I reckon I got a nice little basket full of them.



Oh, can anything be better than fresh fruit you have grown yourself? I think NOT!



Well . . . okay . . . so this delicious slice comes a close second!



It has a nutty buttery base almost like a pastry, and then a layer of hazelnut cake, stogged full of lovely plums. The whole thing is topped with a crunchy nutty streusel. Moreishly scrummy!!



The best part is that you use the same basic recipe to produce all three layers, with just a few alterations made for each. Easy peazy, Lemon Squeezy!!

A tasty dollop of creme fraiche or clotted cream is the perfect accompaniment, natch!!




*Plum and Hazelnut Crumble Slice*
Serves16
Printable Recipe

It's a pie! It's a cake! It's a crumble! It's all three and delicious! Perfect to share over a cup of tea or served warm as a dessert with lashings of cream or custard!

250g of butter (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
(your butter should be very cold)
225g of caster sugar (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
(Plus extra for sprinkling)
284g of ground hazelnuts (3 1/3 cup)
5 ounces plain flour (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
plus an extra 2 TBS
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling
half a dozen or so large ripe plums, stoned and sliced
2 ounces flaked almonds (1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/375*F/ Gas mark 4. Butter an 8 by 12 tay bake pan well. Line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the cold butter, 225g of sugar, and ground nuts into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles a rough crumble. Measure half of it out into another bowl. Set aside. To the remaining crumb mixture add the 5 ounces of flour and pulse just until it forms a dough. Press this into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place in the heated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Return the remaining crumbs (Reserve 2 heaped dessertspoons for the end) to the food processor. Tip in the extra 2 TBS of flour, eggs, cinnamon and baking powder. Pulse to a soft batter. Scrape onto the baked base and spread out evenly. Top with the sliced plums. Sprinkle with a bit of extra sugar and cinnamon. Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes.

Stir the flaked almonds into the remaining measure of the crumbs, mixing in well. Remove the cake from the oven and spinkle evenly with the almond mixture. Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.

One of the things that Todd and I like to do in our spare time is to visit some of the National Trust Houses that are abundant in our beautiful country. There's quite a few and in the warmer months, it's really a lot of fun walking around the gardens and of course nosing through the houses . . . We just find it so very fascinating and a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Most of the National Trust houses also have tearooms and small restaurants on the grounds. That, of course is also one of the real treats of the day . . . spending an hour in the tea rooms partaking of a delicious cake or bun (all homemade) and a drink.



And then, there is Todd's nemesis . . . the gift shop. He tries to steer me away from them, but . . . I'm on to him now . . . the gift shop is one of the highlights of my afternoon! They are filled with all sorts of treasures . . . jams and jellies, biscuits, candy rock, toys, gardening goods, tea time trinkets and . . . delicious cookery books!

On one of our visits I picked up this lovely cookerybook filled with traditional teatime recipes.

"Food is at the heart of everything the National Trust does. Our commitment to food stretches from using high quality sustainable produce in our restaurants to supporting our tenant farmers in selling direct to the public. With hundreds of tenant farms, more than 25 working kitchen gardens and farms managed by us, the Trust has an important stake in every part of the food journey." (Excerpt from inside flap of the above book)



I just adore the traditional recipes of any country I am in, but most especially the traditional ones from this beautiful country that we live in. Teatime recipes are some of my favourites of all. They hearken me back to my childhood days of reading Enid Blyton novels and dreaming about the delicous sounding teatime treats that the children in them got to gobble down, and I could only dream of . . .



This is a great baking book, chock full of delectable sounding teatime treats! Every recipe I have baked from it thus far has been just wonderful, not the least of which was this tasty banana cake that I baked this afternoon. We sat down to a piece each with a cup of herbal tea, whilst the snow blew against the glass of our kitchen windows, and dreamt of adventures and tuck boxes and . . . warm summer afternoon walks along country garden pathways . . .



Note - the filling is not really thick, but I found that by pooling most of it in the centre, it worked out just perfectly and did not squish out the sides. Also the icing is more like a glaze than a traditional frosting. It is most delicious!



*Cornish Banana Cake*
Makes one 7-inch layer cake
Printable Recipe

Just perfect for afternoon tea! A deliciously moist banana cake layered with a buttery banana filling and iced with a cocoa banana icing.

For the cake:
8 ounces very ripe banana (weight after peeling)
3 1/2 ounces caster sugar
3 1/2 ounces butter, softened
200g self raising flour, sifted
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 TBS milk

For the filling:
1 ripe banana
2 ounces butter, softened
2 ounces caster sugar

For the icing:
1 soft, very ripe banana
1 ounce cocoa powder, sifted
8 ounces icing sugar, sifted



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Butter two 7-inch round sandwich tins and lightly flour, tapping any excess out. Mash the bananas and sugar together for the cake in a bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in the softened butter. Add the flour alternately with the egg. Dissolve the soda in the milk and add to the mixture. Beat to a fairly sticky batter. Divide evenly between the two tins, smooth the tops and then bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the sponge springs back when lightly touched.

Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, beat all the ingredients together until well mixed and use to sandwich the two layers together.

For the icing, beat all the ingredients together until dark and really smooth. Spread onto the top of the cake.

Note - If you like you can decorate the top with some blanched almonds, walnut halves or dried banana chips.

Some people hate mince pies. Some people hate Christmas pudding. Some people I know, even hate fruit cake!



I know . . . there is just no pleasing some people . . .



I'm pretty sure this will please them though.



Eggnog cake. Moist, delicious and fragrant with the smells of orange, nutmeg and, well, egg nog!



A nice fat slice of this, with some ice cream or whipped cream on top, will go down a treat with even the pickest guest you may have at your table over the holidays. I guarantee!



As Tiny Tim would say . . . God bless us, everyone!



*Eggnog Pound Cake*
Makes 1 10-inch bundt cake
Printable Recipe

A deliciously festive cake filled with the lovely flavours of eggnog, cranberries and orange. This smells just fabulous when it is baking! Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

1/2 cup dried cranberries (50g)
2 TBS dark rum or water
1 cup butter, room temperature (8 ounces)
2 cups white sugar (400g)
3 large eggs
3 cups flour (420g)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup storebought eggnog (250ml)
(See note below)
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBS freshly grated orange zest

For the Glaze:
3 TBS orange juice
1 TBS dark rum (or an additional TBS of orange juice)
3/4 cup sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 160*C/325*F. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan really well. Set aside.

Place the cranberries in a small bowl and cover with the rum or water. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar to gether until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Add to the creamed mixture, on low speed, alternately with the egg nog, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Fold in the orange zest, cranberries and any liquid in the bowl. Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan, smoothing the top over. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until it tests down when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack.

Prepare the glaze by blending together the orange juice, sugar and rum, until the sugar is about melted. Using a pastry brush, brush this glaze all over the surface of the warm cake, brushing it again and again until all the glaze is used and has been absorbed by the cake. Serve at room temperature, cut into slices with your preferred accompaniment.

Note - if you are unable to get eggnog use an equal amount of whipping cream and increase the measure of grated nutmeg to 1/2 tsp.