I recently found a recipe somewhere for Mars Bar Custard and so in preparation for making it, I picked up a package of Mars Bars at the grocery store.  You can guess what happened next.  I lost the recipe and still haven't found it.  It's so annoying when that happens, and it happens to me a lot.    

  

I try really hard not to have too many things like candy bars in the house, because they have a habit of getting into my mouth big time.  I am a real chocolate bar fiend.  I decided to use them up so they wouldn't be hanging around the cupboard tempting and torturing me.  I decided to make cookies with them.  

  

Now, I know what you are thinking . . . wouldn't cookies with Mars Bars in them be even more dangerous to have around and more fattening than the candy bars themselves??  And of course, they are!  But, the good thing about cookies is this . . . people don't mind me bringing them over a dozen or so cookies.  In fact they welcome them with open arms . . . whereas if I show up with a packet of Mars Bars, they are apt to question my sanity . . . 

  

Cookies with Mars Bars in them however . . . a totally different story.  These were snaffled up at the speed of light.  No surprise there either as they are the perfect cookie . . .  soft and chewy in the middle, a bit crisp on the edges and stogged full of lovely semi sweet chocolate chips and hunks of melted Mars Bars . . . 

  

Be still my heart . . .  soft, chewy, malty, sweet caramel, and semi and milk chocolate . . . all in that lovely chocolate chip cookie dough that is so good you want to eat it raw, but you are afraid to so you bake it just to save yourself from a fate worse than death.  Whew!  Now THAT'S a mouthful.   A Big Soft Chewy Mars  Bar and Chocolate Chip Cookie mouthful!




*Big Soft Chewy Mars and Chocolate Chip Cookies*

 

When I was a child I used to feel really hard done by because my mother would never buy us things that we saw advertised on the telly like . . .  Stove Top Stuffing, or Kraft Macaroni and Cheese . . .  or  Beefaroni by Chef Boyardee.  Those things looked really good and the ads were mesmerising.   They did their job in wanting us to buy what they were selling.



And I confess, whenever I fly home, I treat myself to a couple of the little pots that you can buy now that you just heat up in the microwave of the Beefaroni as well as the Spaghetti and Meatballs.  After all if it's good enough for hoards of Italian children, then it's good enough for me!  *wink*



In any case I found a recipe the other day for Home-made Beefaroni, on a page called Cooking for Stolen Moments. And I thought why not give it a go.  It looked pretty close to the real deal and I was having a craving.  You know what happens then . . .  when you got a craving, you just got to feed it.  To heck with the pasta hating gobbles it up  husband.  (Me thinks he actually doth protest too much)



It actually turned out really good and was pretty close to the original I reckon.  I made a few modifications of my own.  I added a beef stock pot for extra beefy flavour, and I cut the recipe in half.  I also used Passatta (creamed tomatoes) instead of tomato sauce.



I also used less sugar, and dried basil and dried oregano instead of Italian seasoning.  Even at half the recipe, it made a ton!  Todd and I both had hearty helpings and Mitzie had some as well, and there was still some left!  So half the recipe very generously served 4 and those are the quantities I have given here.

 

If anything it was better than the original beef-aroni from the tin  . . .  for one the pasta was al dente and for two the sauce had a nice rich tomato flavour.  Half a pound of extra lean mince was just the right amount so it was also a very economical meal.  If you wanted to you could pile it into a casserole and top it with cheese and bake it, but then it wouldn't be like Chef Boyardee would it?  In any case it was really, really good.

Store in an airtight container.

There is one flavour combination that isn't totally embraced over here in the UK, that of Peanut Butter and Jam.  The Toddster says it is about as appealing as eating fish and custard together . . .  but then I remind him that parsley sauce is a bit like custard . . . just not sweet.  He begs to differ.



He will eat a jam sandwich.  He will eat a peanut butter sandwich.  He will not eat a peanut butter and jam sandwich.  I, on the other hand . . . think that peanut butter and jam or jelly are a taste marriage made in heaven.



How can you resist that combination of salty peanuts . . . pulverized to a thick unctuous cream  . . .  and sweet, sticky and fruity jam????   The two together are absolutely perfect!  Like pancakes and maple syrup . . . bacon and brown sugar . . .  peas and carrots . . .  mango and chillies . . . they just belong together!



This beautiful cake showcases that marriage beautifully.  You have amoist,  delicious and buttery cake base, which is slathered with softened jam . . . prior to baking . . .  I used Raspberry and Scottish Whiskey  jam . . .


The jam layer  is covered with tasty sweet clumps of peanut butter/flour/sugar and chopped peanuts all rubbed together.   Again, prior to baking . . . the magic happens in the oven . . .



A delicious magic that you can smell as the warm smells of buttery cake, salty peanut butter and sweet jam waft through the house as the cake is baking.   You just know this is going to be fabulous.  And then . . .



A final layer of a sweet peanut butter drizzle icing seals the deal on the cooling cake . . . drizzled here and drizzled there . . . making it even more impossible to resist. Why even try?   Go on . . . dig in.  You know you really want to.   Tradition be damned.  Throw caution to the wind you Brits!  Embrace Peanut Butter and Jam.   Isn't it time?  (As I write this you-know-who is out in the garden sitting in the sunshine snuffling down a nice big slice.  Me thinks he doth protest too much!)



*Glazed Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Cake*

 

My very British Husband is quite fond of telling me that eating peanut butter and jam together is completely insane.  That didn't stop him from scarfing down three of these as soon as I had them finished though!  (Me thinks he is a bit of a porkie pie teller and that he secretly LOVES the combination as much as I do!)



Could it be that I have finally indoctrinated him to my wild and wooly North American ways????  Could it be that his veins are beginning to run a tiny bit  with peanut butter and jam???  I like to think so at any rate!  This is a combination I love soooo much!  It's that sweet and salty thing!

 

Today I decided to indulge it by making little peanut butter cookie cups.  I was going to make them snickers cups . . . but then I got sidelined by the Thames Jubilee Pageant and so I just filled them with jam before baking and then topped them with a quick buttercream icing.  I wanted to sit and watch all the fun!
(Oh my but it was fabulous!  I've never seen anything like it.  Everyone was turned out beautifully.  I thought Kate was just gorgeous, as always, and the Queen looked positively radiant!)

 

This is the type of thing I would positively make for Her Royal Majesty, did she ever chance to drop in for tea.  I would want to bake her something to with her cuppa that was ludicrously North American and what can be any more North American than Peanut Butter and Jam!!  (I don't think she'd enjoy porqupine . . . not really.)

 

Crisp peanut butter cookie cups . . . baked with a sweet dab of jam in the middle . . . then topped with a peanut butter flavoured butter cream frosting.  Oh so scrummishly moreishly decadently good!!  Bet YOU couldn't eat just one either!

 

*Peanut Butter and Jam Cookie Cups*
Makes about 36
Printable Recipe

Tasty little peanut butter cookie cups, filled with jam and baked until crispy and then topped with a peanutbutter flavoured buttercream icing when cool.  M-O-R-E-I-S-H!!

For the cookie cups:
280g of flour (2 cups)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
172g of unsalted butter at room temperature (3/4 cup)
135g of creamy peanut butter (3/4 cup)
96g of caster sugar (1/2 cup)
100g of soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)
1 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla
seedless raspberry jam

For the frosting:
6 TBS unsalted butter at room temperature
100g of icing sugar (3/4 cup) sifted
135g of creamy peanut butter (3/4 cup)
3 TBS heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Have ready several mini juffin tins.  Spray with some nonstick cooking spray.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter and peanut butter until thorougly combined.  Beat in the egg and vanilla.  Whisk together the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda.  Stir this in to make a soft dough.  Shape the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls.  Place one in each muffin cup.  Press in with the bottom of a rolling pin, or a pastry damper to make a shell.  Fill the centres with about 1/2 tsp of jam.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  They should be lightly golden brown around the edges.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes, then remove and set on a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

To make the frosting, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.  Spoon or pipe a little dab of this frosting into the centre of each cookie cup to cover the jam.  Allow to set completely.

Alternately the cookie dough can be rolled into walnut sized balls and pressed flat with a fork on a lightly buttered baking tray.   You can then bake them for about 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Put together with a layer of jam and a layer of the peanut butter flavoured buttercream!

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  If you can eat just one, you're a better woman than I am!!

 

 In any case if you didn't want to go to the trouble of making these as cookie cups, you could just bake them as regular peanut butter cookies and then sandwich them together with some of the frosting and some jam!

 

 

I hid a few bananas from the Toddster this week so I could bake with them.  I am not overly fond of fresh bananas, unless they are sliced on top of my rice crispies or sitting beneath a blanket of custard, or in a banana cream pie.  I love baking with them most of all. 




If you were to offer me a bowl of fruit and there was only one apple in it and the rest were bananas . . . I'd take the apple every time.  Todd, on the other hand, loves bananas, and as soon as he sees them starten to really ripen he is in a mad rush to eat them all up before they go "bad."  I can't tell you the number of times I have wanted to bake something with banana in it only to see Todd sitting in his chair munching on the last banana! 





Hence my need to hide a few bananas . . . so I can bake.  Lovely goodies such as Banana, Cranberry and Walnut Loaf.  This is so good that my neighbor asks me to bake him one each Christmas.  Or my Fully Loaded Banana Chip Muffins.  Oh so scrummy.  Sour Cream Banana Loaf.  So moist and delicious.  My ex boss wanted me to bake it for him every week.  He loved it toasted and buttered for breakfast.  If you put the word Banana into the search block in my right hand column, you will find lots of banana delights.  Each one scrummier than the last!



We love this Banana Crumb Cake.   It's moist and delicious and has a ribbon of scrummy crumb through the centre, which kind of turns caramel-like . . . and then a crunchy crumb topping that is moreishly buttery.  Altogether this is a real winner.



It only keeps a couple of days though . . . which if you had a large family wouldn't be a problem as this disappears like water . . . but . . . if there are only two of you, like there is in our house, you will want to cut it into single servings, wrap well and freeze, for up to two months or so.



I don't see any problem in that.  It's nice to have some cake in the freezer for when the urge hits . . . especially when it's a delicious Banana Crumb Cake!  Enjoy!



Mash the bananas until they are liquified in a large bowl.   Add the butter to combine and then beat in the eggs, sugar and vanilla until mixed well.  Add the flour and milk alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Top with 1/3 of the crumb mixture.  Cover with the remainder of the batter.  Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over top evenly.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes (mine took an additional 15 minutes) until the centre is set and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.  At the end of that time dust with icing sugar if desired.  Whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth and then drizzle them decoratively over the top of the cake.

Cut into squares to serve.  This may be served warm or cold and will store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.  It also freezes well.

To make the glaze, whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl using only enough milk to give you a thick smooth drizzable glaze.  Dip the tops of the cookies quickly into this glaze until coated, allowing any excess to drip off.   Return to the wire racks until the glaze sets.  Store in an airtight container.