Peanut Butter and Oat Sandwich Cookies

 I may have mentioned before that I like peanut butter just a little bit…

These cookies are a peanut butter lovers dream, they are crisp on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. The oats give them a lovely texture and the creamy peanut butter filling make them over the top peanut butter goodness! 

As I said in my last post, I have this week off work so have plenty of time for baking and today I thought I'd treat my friend Conor to some sweet treats. He's been away in Belgium and been drooling over the recipes from over there for months, itching to try something in real life. Well today was his lucky day and he ate at least 6 of these in the space of about an hour. 

Giant taste test approved! 

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (I use Skippy)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the filling:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1-2 tablespoons milk

To Make:

• Preheat oven to 180°C and line 2 large cookie sheets with greaseproof paper. 
• In a medium bowl, mix together the oats, flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. 
• In a large bowl cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. 
• Add the egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and mix. 
• Pour oat mixture into peanut butter mixture, mixing until just combined. 

• Place rounded teaspoonfuls of batter on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each one. Pat dough down so they form small flattened circles. 

• Bake for about 8 minutes or until golden and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

• While the cookies are baking, beat the butter, powdered sugar, and peanut butter until combined. Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. 

• To make cookie sandwich, spread a bit of frosting on one cookie, top with another cookie and voila! PB + oat sandwich cookie done.

Apple Streusel Blondies

It's been a while since I've been a bloggin'! I haven't had much time recently to make anything and although I did make a batch of pumpkin muffins last week, they...er didn't quite make it to the blog.

But this week I'm going to have plenty of time to cook up lots of treats and have started it of with these delicious apple blondies with an oaty streusel topping. 

They're amazing eaten on their own or, as it was Sunday, I whipped up some custard to pour over this crumble-cake-blondie beaut for pudding after my roast. Delish.

Ingredients:

For the blondie:
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
2 medium apples, peeled and diced
⅔ cup chopped pecans
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
For the streusel:
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
3 tbsp rolled oats
¼ tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp butter, melted

To Make:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare a small baking dish, greasing and lining with greaseproof paper.
• Start with the blondies; in a medium bowl combine the butter and the sugar and whisk until combined.
• Add the egg and whisk until it is fully incorporated. 
• Fold in the diced apples and the chopped pecans. 
• Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to the apple mixture. Mix gently to combine. This creates a very thick batter. 

• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it around the pan with a spatula.
• To make the streusel, mix together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, oats and cinnamon. 
• Add the melted butter and stir to combine. The streusel will have a sand like consistency. 
• Distribute the topping evenly on top of the blondie batter. 

• Place the brownies in the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. 

• Remove the brownies from the oven and allow them to rest for 30 minutes before cutting them into squares.

The quick custard I made for it was super easy and dairy free.

Just mix 1 1/2 tbsp of corn flour with the same amount of caster sugar in a small saucepan and gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups of almond milk. Stir continuously until over a low heat until boiling point to prevent lumps and then remove from the heat. Finally, stir in 1 tsp of vanilla bean paste. 

The custard will thicken as it cools and can be served hot or cold.

Cinnabuns

Unsurprisingly, I am a huge fan of The Great British Bake Off and have been since the first series. Every week I sit and drool over what they make and laugh at all their silly mistakes (assuring myself that I would do soo much better...) 
And ever since last week's theme of sweet doughs and the very tempting buns that were displayed, I've had a hankering for one myself and have been searching for the perfect recipe.

As it happens, my mum happened to come home with the new issue of Waitrose Kitchen magazine yesterday and on the cover is a recipe for cinnamon buns from the winner of the first series of the Bake Off, Edd Kimber. Seeing as I had the day off work today, I thought it would be rude not to try baking them myself.

The recipe took quite a while as dough must be left to prove before and after rolling it out and I did manager to make quite a mess of the kitchen (much to mothers delight) but it was all worth it in the end as I had one of these delicious buns to tuck into and my craving was finally satisfied. I could not recommend these more!

Ingredients:
250ml whole milk
50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
30g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
7g sachet fast-action yeast
1 large egg, beaten
vegetable oil for greasing
Filling:
150g soft light brown sugar
3 tbsp ground cinnamon
60g unsalted butter, plus extra for brushing
75g currants
Topping:
75g soft cheese
125g icing sugar
1 tbsp whole milk

To Make:

• Put the milk and butter into a small pan over a low and warm until the butter has just melted. Allow the mixture to stand until lukewarm.
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
• Add the milk mixture and the egg and mix to form a soft dough.

• Lightly flour a work surface and tip the dough onto it. Now take out all that anger and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. 

• Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Put the bowl in a warm place (I chose the airing cupboard) and leave to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

They grow up so fast...

• Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and roll out to 40cm x 50cm.
• Lightly grease a 23cm x 33cm high sided baking tray and pre-heat the oven to 180C.
• Make the filling by combining the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
• Spread the dough with the softened butter and sprinkle over the sugar mixture, then the currants.

• Starting from the long edge, roll into a tight log. Trim the ends and slice into 16 pieces (approx.)

• Put the rolls into the greased tin and cover with clingfilm, leaving for a further 45 minutes to double in size.
• Brush the buns with a little melted butter and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. For the last 5-10 minutes you may need to cover the tin for foil to prevent the buns from burning.

• Whilst enjoying the smells of the buns cooking, you can make the topping. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth.
• Once the buns are out of the oven, wait for them to cool slightly and then drizzle the topping over the buns or spread to coat evenly. 

• Serve warm (and try to share).