I am a deprived little baker. Working pretty much full time (7 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week in a ‘casual’ job) I have little time and less energy for baking lately. I did make an effort a couple of weeks ago, but my apple and cranberry muffins were very much a gluten free fail. They did not rise, so were quite doughy, tiny and sad looking. 

This weekend I had some bridesmaid baking duties, assisting with gingerbread people favours (which are adorable), but the need to bake still wasn’t satiated. This may be because I now have a weird compulsion to photograph everything I bake…and blog it. Very sad. 

I stumbled across this recipe after looking through a friend’s Donna Hay cookbook. I love cookbooks, but websites come free. 

A filled cookie is something so decadent, and with so little flour in these, I could hardly go wrong with making them gluten free. They are also very heavy on the chocolate, which seems to be a theme here. 

My filling didn’t turn out entirely smooth, I may have blended it too fast. 

 350g dark chocolate, chopped

40g butter

2 eggs

⅔ cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup (35g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted

¼ teaspoon baking powder, sifted

Filling

1 cup (160g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar mixture

1 cup (280g) smooth peanut butter

80g butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  ⅓ cup (80ml) single (pouring) cream

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt down 200g of the chocolate and the butter over a low heat, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla in an electric miser for 15 minutes, or until pale.

Combine all elements and allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Spoon spoonfuls onto lined baking trays and bake for 8-10 minutes or until cracked. Allow to cool completely on the tray. 

To make the filling, combine peanut butter, sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a mixer and beat for 6 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the cream and beat for a further 2 minutes

(Oh, I missed this step, which may explain my curdling problem)

Fill the cookies and indulge.

I just got back from my first day of work, smelling like meat pies and craving dessert. I work at a bakery, as a waitress, and although I’m surrounded by flaky pastry, whipped cream and custard tarts all day, as a celiac I can’t really eat anything. But even if I could, I love the irregularities of home baking; the crumbs, the hard edges off the brownie slab, the cream off the edge of the cake plate, being able to say ‘I’ll be good’ and take the small slice (or do the opposite)…Mmm, brownie edges…

Today I discovered this lovely blog:

We’re having friends over for dinner tomorrow night, which means I can justify making dessert. This girl’s blondie-brownies sounded like a fantastic idea. Add to this Nigella’s chocolate peanut butter fudge sundae sauce and perhaps minds will be blown. 

I have done some major messing with this recipe, especially the measurements, because I like metric! Sorry Americans, but you’re stuck in the dark ages. I also made it significantly larger, because I wanted more brownies.

Blondie layer:

1 1/2 cups flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

125g butter

200g white chocolate

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

A handful of raspberries

Preheat oven to 160 C and line a 20cm square baking tray with baking paper. 

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together until combined. Set aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium pot over low heat. Take off the heat and gradually add in the sugar, then the egg and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the mixture until just combined. Pour into the pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula, then set aside.

Brownie Layer

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup self raising flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 tsp salt

125g dark chocolate

125g butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

In a medium bowl, whisk the flours and salt together until combined. Set aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in a medium pot over low heat. Take off the heat and gradually add in the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, folding with a rubber spatula until the batter is smooth. 

Spread brownie batter evenly over blondie batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, less if you like them gooey. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then slice into 10cm squares.

These taste awesome, all chewy and gooey. Next time I’ll add some chocolate chips for those little bursts of flavour. Now, this is great on it’s own, and I greatly enjoyed nibbling on the edges, but with the sauce that follows, it is amazing!

Nigella’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter fudge sauce

I didn’t measure out any of these ingredients, so you can find the real recipe at Nigella’s Website. Essentially all you need to do is melt some chocolate, add some cream, golden syrup (but I used maple) and a dollop of peanut butter. Mix it up. It is absolutely fantastic.