Peanut Butter and Chocolate Scones

I spent Sunday afternoon in the kitchen.  That's not unusual, but I hadn't been able to use my oven for a couple of weeks due to the installation of a wooden floor.  Regular readers will know that I've been having a bit of a time of it over the last 18 months or so, with dry rot treatment and rebuilding half our farm house.  We are on the home stretch now and the kitchen floor is the final major disruption.

Anyway, back to the baking, I wanted to make something relatively quick and easy but also satisfying, so scones were what came to mind.  I'm always looking to fit in my kitchen exploits with one or other of the linky challenges run on other food blogs. I haven't entered We Should Cocoa for far too long and for August,  Choclette at Tin and Thyme has given us free rein with an 'Anything Goes' theme, so throw in a bit of chocolate and voila!



Peanut Butter and Chocolate Scones
Makes 12-16 scones depending on how you cut them

400g spelt or wholemeal flour
100g oatbran (if you don't have any, then substitute flour)
4 level tsp baking powder
100g soft butter
3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
50g soft brown sugar
100g dark chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
milk
2 tbsp dark chocolate spread

1. Heat the oven to 200C
2. Place the flour, oatbran and baking powder in a large bowl and mix together
3. Rub in the butter and peanut butter until you have fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Stir in the eggs and enough milk to make a soft dough, reserving a little milk  to glaze.
5. Add the chocolate spread in teaspoonfuls and swirl through the dough with a knife, do not overwork or your scones will be tough.
6. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
7. Press the dough onto the tray in a rough circle about 1.25cm thick, mark lightly into wedges with a knife.  Brush with milk.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, leave to cool slightly then slide onto a cooling tray.

And the result...a huge success. The scones are so full of good things, they are not too sweet with just enough of a crunch of peanuts and swirls of chocolate to make them a great alternative to richer cakes.


Why not link up your chocolate recipe to We Should Cocoa?

Labels: baking, chocolate, chocolate spread, easy, oatbran, peanut butter, scone, spelt, We should Cocoa

posted by Janice @ 21:27 13 Comments

Hugh's Honey and Peanut Butter Flapjacks

There was nothing in the biscuit tin.  There was nothing in the cake tin. I wanted something sweet now what did I have in the cupboard that would make a quick and easy sweet treat?  I always have oats, dried fruits and a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds that we use in our bread, so I went looking for a FLAPJACK recipe and found this one by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in River Cottage Every Day:

Honey and Peanut Butter Booster Bars

Labels: apricots, cranberries, dried fruit, flapjacks, honey, Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, oats, peanut butter, raisins, Tea Time Treats

posted by Janice @ 19:51 25 Comments

Peanut Butter, Oat and Choc Chip Cookies

The Fourth of July is a big celebration for all my US friends, sometimes they don't quite get why we don't celebrate it in the UK...er...well...we lost!  I don't hold that against them though, in fact let's face it, most of us are simply looking for an excuse to celebrate anything!

So here is my celebration recipe of Peanut Butter, Oat and Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Duerr's Peanut Butter, it's super smooth and made with American peanuts, it blended perfectly in the cookies and would also be delicious in that all American favourite the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.

I can't claim this recipe as my own, it's a fabulous one from Sally's Baking Addiction, definitely a site to visit if you love Peanut Butter.  Sally has created these gluten free cookies which are really easy to make and create a soft and delicious cookie.  I only deviated from the recipe slightly, by using chopped chocolate chunks rather than bought choc chips, mmmm bigger pieces of chocolate.

I thought you might be interested to know that I bought the fabric in the cookie photograph, in California in 2007 and the US Flag picks I bought on my very first trip to the States in 1980!

I'm adding this cookie recipe to Jacqueline, Tinned Tomatoes  and Lisa, Lisa's Kitchen  monthly challenge: Bookmarked Recipes, it's a while since I posted for this challenge so good to get back in the game.

Thanks to Duerrs for the Peanut Butter, I was not paid for this post and all opinions are my own.

Labels: 4th July, Bookmarked Recipes, chocolate, chocolate chip, cookies, Duerrs, oats, peanut butter, Sally's Baking Addiction, USA

posted by Janice @ 20:47 10 Comments

On My Kitchen Table - New Year 2014

Well Christmas is past and the New Year is almost upon us.  Just before the start of the festive season the PRs seem to go into overdrive and offers of review samples tumbled into my inbox like  Christmas cards  popping through my letterbox.  I don't accept all the offers that are made, but try to choose products which are good quality and that I would be happy to share with my family and friends at my table as well as with you, dear readers, on Farmersgirl Kitchen Table.




We've been enjoying Whole Earth Crunchy Peanut Butter for many years, Mr Farmer is particularly fond of peanutty things.  The difference between the Whole Earth Peanut butter and the emulsified, trans-fat versions is marked and once you have tried it you won't go back.

There's a new nut butter from Whole Earth, it's 3 Nut and contains Cashews, Hazelnuts and Peanuts. It's got no added sugar and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.   This  3 Nut Butter makes a really nice change and is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner!






As Whole Earth Foods also sent me some of their Peanut Butter too, I thought I'd use some in a recipe.  This isn't the most attractive of dishes, but it tasted pretty good, and was even better the next day.  I found this recipe for African Beef and Peanut Stew at The Kitchn.


Whole Earth 3 Nut Butter is available from most major supermarkets





The Qbag is perfect for this time of year when time is short and there is a lot of roasting going on!  Qbags are designed to be used on the barbeque to contain foods that might otherwise fall apart, they also have the huge advantage of keeping the food really moist and juicy as well as not making a mess of your grill or oven.

I don't own a barbeque and we don't have the weather for outside cooking just now anyhow.  So I cooked some minute steak with onions and stock inside one of the bags.

Minute steak can be quite tough to eat, it's cut thin and doesn't have a lot of fat, so only needs a short time in the frying pan.  However you can also braise it and it will be very tender.  I simply browned the minute steaks in a little oil, then added the sliced onions and browned them too.  I added a beef stock cube to about 100ml of boiling water until dissolved, then added to the steak and onions in the bag.  Then you simply scrunch up the foil part of the bag and place on a tray in the oven.   I cooked this for about 30 minutes checking through the handy clear window to see how it was doing.  You can even peel back the window to add ingredients or give your food a bit of a mix up if needed.

We really enjoyed the steak cooked in this way and it certainly saved on the washing up!

Qbags were available from the online shop, but this closed on 20th November.  Going forward, Qbag are partnering with trusted brands to get our products into your local shops. Look out for BacoFoil EasyCook Foil Bags in ASDA and Sainsbury's and buy 5 bags for £2.99.



More lovely comfort food. These Heck Sausages 
are very good indeed.  There is a whole range of different flavours, but so far I've only tried the 97% pork sausages.  What I can say is that they really taste of meat and are well seasoned with no artificial taste at all, they are also gluten free.  I'm looking forward to trying the Pork and Apple and Chorizo Style sausages and will report back to you when I do.

Heck Food is a small family run business, farming and making sausages from pork shoulder.  The quality shines through.  Well worth trying.  Heck sausages are available at many supermarkets for around £2.98 for 400g.





Cheese is perfect for snacking, quick lunches and suppers or as part of a cheeseboard after a celebratory meal.
 

This year, why not bring some originality and flair to the table and wow your guests with an innovative cheeseboard.  Instead of the usual cheese pairings of quince jelly, pineapple, a salty cracker and the odd decorative grape, Castello has created more inspiring combinations based on molecular science.






Three of the Cawston Press sparkling drinks have been awarded prestigious Great Taste gold medals.
It’s no mean feat – Great Taste is the world’s largest and most rigorous food awards scheme, involving over 400 judges and thousands of hours of blind tasting.
Here’s some of the judges’ comments about the gold medal winners. The word ‘lovely’ keeps cropping up!
“Quaffable drink; lingers comfortably; lovely apple on the nose; lovely natural appearance; very clean, zesty and refreshing; would make a delightful alternative to an alcoholic drink; the carbonation added a lovely sparkle”
The range of sparkling drinks are available from selected Tesco, Waitrose stores and online via Ocado.


End a dinner party in style this festive season and earn yourself a reputation for creating a truly memorable cheeseboard with the help of Port Salut and cheese expert Juliet Harbutt. Here’s her top ten tips for pulling together a show-stopping centre piece.

• A slate or marble cheeseboard, decorated with a few autumnal leaves and berries is great for making a lasting impression

• Ideally a cheeseboard should include five to ten cheese from the seven different types, but don’t over cater – allow approximately 75-100g per person

• Offer a range of shapes – logs, wedges, cylinders, squares – and cut blocks of cheese into different shapes for an attractive finish

• Try to provide a separate knife for each type of cheese so that more guests can help themselves at once and there is less cross contamination of flavours

• Ideally buy cheeses you have tasted and had cut at the deli from the original cheese, or buy pre-pack cheeses as near to their best before date as possible for the best taste

• Before serving ensure all the cheeses have come to room temperature – a slither will take 5 minutes and whole Brie will take at least an hour so best to serve similar sized portions

• If you are lucky enough to have a whole or half Stilton don’t pour Port into it; rather than adding to the taste of either, it is an old tradition used for style not taste

• Ideal accompaniments to the cheeseboard include: oat cakes, rustic breads, pickled walnuts, savoury, mildly spiced chutneys, mixed nuts, dried fruit or fresh apples or pears

• As well as wine, beer & cider also go very well with most types of cheese so encourage guests to have fun experimenting with their pairings

• Impress your friends and family with your newly acquired expertise with these quick facts:
• 95% of cheeses are suitable for vegetarians

• Stilton is just one of 90 British blue cheeses on the market Box-out: Visit the Port Salut website at www.portsalut.co.uk for Juliet’s downloadable cheese guide, listing all her cheese recommendations for the perfect dinner party cheese board.


And finally, it's time to sit back and relax with the lovely Feel Good Food magazine from Woman and Home.  I'm a bit of a magazine addict and love these themed food magazines from Woman and Home.  The award winning Lir cupcake chocolates were perfect to savour while reading about food!







I was not paid to review any of these products, but was supplied with samples for review.  All opinions are my own.

Labels: Apple juice, Castello, Cawston Press, cheese, Heck Food, Lir chocolate., New Year, On my Kitchen Table, peanut butter, Port Salut, Qbag, sausages, Tickler, Whole Earth, Woman and Home

posted by Janice @ 08:00 1 Comments

and now for something...

Can there be such a thing, I hear you ask?  Oh yes, and what makes it even better is that you can get all your supplies online from Healthy Supplies whose strapline is No Nonsense Nutrition!


 I started by making some flapjacks,  I was so impressed by the dried fruit supplied by Healthy Supplies, all organic and probably the best dried cranberries I have tasted, I tried a few as snack, we you have to don't you?  The Sour Cherries are a little firmer than the cranberries, a bit like the difference between currants and raisins,  so I soaked them for an hour in some orange juice to plump them up a bit. The roasted hazelnuts are also really delicious with a lovely roasted flavour and no fear of burning them (which often happens if I try to roast them myself!).


Biona Dried Sour Cherries

and here is what I made with them:

Cranberry and Sour Cherry Flapjacks (with peanut butter)
 110g/ 4oz butter
80g/3oz soft light brown sugar
1 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
80ml/3floz clear honey
250g/9oz rolled porridge oats
80g/3oz dried sour cherries
80g/30z dried cranberries
1 tbsp dessicated coconut
50g/2oz roasted hazelnuts, broken into pieces

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/370F/Gas4
2. Melt the butter, sugar, honey and peanut butter together in a pan over a medium heat.
3. Add the rolled oats, dried fruit, dessicated coconut and hazelnuts and stir well.
4. Pour the flapjack mixture inot a greased 30cm/12in x 20cm/8in square baking tin.  Press the mixture into the corners and smooth the top.




The Flapjacks turned out well, not too sweet with the juicy berries and crunchy hazelnuts adding lots of texture to the bars.  I added the peanut butter to help bind the oat mixture together, but if you can't eat peanuts then you could just use another 40g/1oz of butter.

I'll be back soon with some muffins made using pretty much the same ingredients.  Remember to check out Healthy Supplies, their ingredients are of the highest quality and the service is friendly and efficient.  They also stock a lot of interesting and different ingredients for baking that can be difficult to source.

Labels: cherries, cranberries, flapjacks, hazelnuts, Healthy Supplies, honey, peanut butter, porridge oats

posted by Janice @ 20:33 8 Comments

He stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni!

Yesterday I made some more Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This time I did give them a little bit of shaping (with my fingers) but just a gentle pat and they came out more rounded.  I think these may become my signature cookie!

I'm not going to post a recipe, I didn't use one and it's only a white sauce with cheese and a bit of mustard powder in it mixed with boiled pasta.  It was delicious, though I say it myself.

Labels: chocolate chips, cookies, Lockerbie Cheddar, macaroni, peanut butter, tomatoes

posted by Janice @ 11:11 5 Comments

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a notion for something with peanut butter in it.  I buy the Whole Earth Crunchy original peanut butter, but haven't had any for some time.  While blog hopping round the cooking blogs, I saw some muffins with pb and choc chips, I decided not to make those but went in search of a cookie recipe featuring the same ingredients.  

 Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (from Southern Food About.Com ) 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) 125g butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chunky or smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Labels: About.com, chocolate chips, cookies, peanut butter

posted by Janice @ 11:16 11 Comments