Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists #BreadBakers

These Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists are made with an enriched brioche dough filled with peanut butter and chocolate chips and baked till golden. Enjoy them with a cold glass of milk or a cup of tea.

I’ve always been a fan of peanut butter cups but find they are a little too sweet for me these days. Recently I was introduced to the Trader Joe’s dark chocolate peanut butter cups and, boy, howdy, are those guys good! 

They were my inspiration for this month’s Bread Bakers’ theme which is “favorite breads.” Who wouldn’t love a soft brioche twist filled with the perennial favorite combination of peanut butter and chocolate?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists

This recipe is adapted from James Morton’s first fabulous baking book, Brilliant Bread. I also have one of his other books, Super Sourdough and can highly recommend both. If you have a stand mixer, I recommend you use it for this recipe. The dough is really sticky to knead by hand. 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon dry active yeast

1/3 cup or 78ml milk, slightly warmed

2 cups or 250g strong white bread flour -18g

1/4 cup or 57g sourdough starter (fed or discard)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup or 194g creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup or 85g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and yeast with the warm milk and two tablespoons of the flour. Leave it for about five minutes. If the yeast has started foaming up, proceed with the next step. If not, your yeast is old and should be replaced. 

Add the flour, the sourdough starter, egg, yolk, milk and salt and combine to form a soft dough. 

Knead your dough for about 5–10 minutes, or until it is really starting to come together.  Add the soft butter and continue to knead until it passes the windowpane test, at least another 5 minutes. 

Cover and leave in a warm place to prove for one hour, or until doubled in size. Alternatively, leave to rest in the fridge for 10–14 hours.

Turn your proved dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle some more flour on top. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a big square about 15 in or 38cm wide. 

Spread the peanut butter over one half. If your peanut butter is too stiff to spread easily, warm it slightly with a couple of quick zaps in a microwave. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the peanut butter. 

Fold your dough over to seal the peanut butter and chocolate chips. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into strips. I got 10 strips out of mine but you can cut thicker or thinner strips, according to your preference.

Twist each strip and place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper or a silicone liner. I couldn’t squeeze all 10 in one pan, try as I might. If yours are also too much for your biggest pan, put the remainers in a smaller pan. Don't crowd them because they need room to rise. 

Cover lightly with cling film and leave to rise for about an hour. At least half an hour before you’re going to bake, preheat your oven to 450°F or 232°C.

When you are ready to bake, turn your oven down to 410°F or 210°C and bake the twists for 10–15 minutes, until they are a light golden brown. We want them to stay soft and pillowy. 

I meant to turn my pans around halfway through because I know my oven doesn't brown evenly but we were watching the UEFA 2020 final and I completely forgot. If your oven has the same issues, you might want to turn your pan around at about the 7 minute mark. Also the extra ones were on a different oven shelf and got a bit darker. Still soft and delicious though! 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking pan for a few minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container. 

Enjoy! 

As I mentioned above, our Bread Bakers' theme this month is Favorite Breads. Many thanks to our host Kelly of A Messy Kitchen. Check out the great recipe links below. 

• Blueberry Pistachio Chocolate Sourdough from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
  
• Cinnamon-Honey Raisin Bagels from What Smells So Good?
  
• Cranberry Yeast Bread from A Messy Kitchen
• Garlic Rolls from Passion Kneaded 
• Hemp and Honey Whole Wheat Bread from Ambrosia
  
• Lemon Zucchini Loaf from A Day in the Life on the Farm
  
• No Knead Sourdough Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Twists from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Boule from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Toasted Eggplant Crust Mini Pizzas

These Toasted Eggplant Crust Mini Pizzas are as delicious as they are adorable with quick tomato sauce and toppings baked on toasted eggplant slices.

We went through a phase a while back of attempting to eat keto, that is to say, without carbs or very low carb. It did not go well. I didn’t lose any weight, for one, and I can’t imagine the increased fat in the cheese, meat and bacon I consumed did my cholesterol any good. Nevertheless, I did create a couple of recipes we loved so I’ll call that part of the experiment a win. 

The first used leftover pork roast slices and eggplant to make stuffed cheesy rolls covered in a rich tomato sauce then baked. Seriously, so good! Most canned tomatoes are not considered keto because of the added sugar so the secret appears to be making your sauce from scratch with fresh tomatoes. 

The second recipe was for rice-free cabbage rolls made with both beef and smoked sausage. I don't know that I'll ever make traditional cabbage rolls again because the smoked sausage adds so much flavor and who needs the rice really?

These toasted eggplant mini pizzas were the third keeper. They kind of remind us of our favorite eggplant Parmigiana but with a lot less trouble. Also: pepperoni - always a welcome addition in my book. 

Toasted Eggplant Crust Mini Pizzas

These would be a great appetizer for any crowd, with the added bonus of being naturally gluten free and keto-friendly.

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (about 19 oz or 535g, but a little bigger or smaller won't matter too much.)

fine sea salt

For the fresh tomato sauce:

2 ripe medium sized tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt 

Suggested toppings:

Mozzarella or your favorite pizza cheese, shredded

Pepperoni (get the mini ones if you can, so cute!)

Black olives, pitted and sliced

Sliced jalapeños

Anchovies

Crushed red pepper 

To garnish after baking: fresh basil

Method

Trim the stem of your eggplant and cut it into 1/2 in or 1 cm slices (I got 16.) If you look closely, you'll see the little pokes of the knife I made at the appropriate intervals using a measuring tape because I'm anal like that. Eyeball it if you want to. 

Sprinkle the eggplant slices lightly with salt and stack them in a colander and set aside in your sink or on a plate to catch any liquid that drips out so it doesn't make a big mess.

Peel your tomatoes. I find the easiest way to peel tomatoes is to cut a cross in the skin with a sharp knife and then use a fork to dip the tomato into just boiled water for about 10-15 seconds. The skin will then slip off easily. 

Core and finely chop the peeled tomatoes.

Combine them in a pan with the minced garlic, oregano, baking soda and salt. 

Cook over medium heat for about 17-20 minutes, or until the tomatoes and garlic are softened and most of the liquid has evaporated. Set aside to cool. 

By this time, your eggplant should have released some juice. Dry the slices off with a tea cloth or paper towels. 

Toast them on a non-stick griddle pan over a medium high heat until they are browned on both sides. This takes just 4-5 minutes a side. Unless you’ve got a really large pan, this is going to have to be done in batches. 

Keep a careful eye on the eggplant slices so they don’t burn, especially if you’ve cut some of them a bit unevenly and some edges are thinner than others. I use a spatula to press them down occasionally, to make sure the eggplant and the pan are making a good connection and shift them around the griddle so they brown evenly. 

When one batch is golden on both sides, remove it to a dry tea cloth or layer of paper towels on a clean work surface. The slices should be laid on in a single layer. If you stack the eggplant slices, they’ll continue cooking and steaming. We want them to cool off once they are toasted. 

At this point, if you are ready to bake the mini pizzas, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Place your toasted eggplant circles on a baking pan lined with baking parchment or a silicone liner and top them with a small spoon of the tomato sauce, cheese and your favorite other toppings. I made one pan of 12 and the other of four.

Bake in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling, just 6 -7 minutes. 

Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve with extra crushed red pepper, if desired. Enjoy!

It’s high summer now in the northern hemisphere so tomatoes and basil are flourishing in gardens everywhere. To celebrate the season, my Baking Blogger group has chosen to showcase tomatoes and basil for today’s theme. Check out all the recipes below. Many thanks to our organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Baked Gnocchi With Tomatoes and Basil by Magical Ingredients
• Baked Feta Pasta by Sneha's Recipe
• Savory Cherry Tomato, Basil, & Feta Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Sourdough Pizza "Baked" on the Grill by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Thai Tomato Basil Baked Chicken by Palatable Pastime
• Toasted Eggplant Crust Mini Pizzas by Food Lust People Love
• Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts by Karen's Kitchen Stories

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

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Amaretto Sour Mocktails

Nicely tart, these Amaretto sour mocktails are made with pineapple, maraschino cherry and lemon juice. They are deliciously refreshing on a hot summer day. 

I have this funny thing with raw eggs. I have absolutely no problem with eating them in cookie dough or cake batter (who doesn’t want to lick the chocolate cake beaters?!) but I draw the line in cocktails. That just seems a little too raw and risky for me. 

I know, I know, according to the CDC, the risk of salmonella is exactly the same so that’s why I bought pasteurized liquid egg whites for this recipe. I suggest you do the same, just to be safe. And you should probably buy pasteurized eggs if you want to eat cookie dough. No one wants salmonella. 

But everybody’s going to want one of these mocktails as soon as you turn the blender on! 

Amaretto Sour Mocktails

The average volume of one large egg white is 2 tablespoons or 30ml. You will need only one tablespoon to make two mocktails. This recipe is adapted from one I found in the BBC Good Food magazine along with some tips from bartender Jeffrey Morganthaler.

Ingredients - for 2 Amaretto Sour Mocktails

1/2 cup or 120ml pineapple juice

1/4 cup or 60ml fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon egg white

10ml syrup from a jar of maraschino cherries

1 tablespoon simple syrup

2-3 drops almond extract

1 small shake Angostura bitters

To garnish: 1 lemon slice and 2 maraschino cherries

Method

Use a sharp knife to cut one nice slice out of a lemon and then cut the slice in half. Juice the rest of the lemon. 

Using a sharp cocktail stick, pierce the lemon peel on one side, slide a cherry onto the stick and then pierce the other side of the lemon peel to create the garnish. 

Put all the drink ingredients into a blender and pulse until well combined, pale in color and fluffy on the top.

If your blender is powerful enough, add 5-6 ice cubes and pulse again to chill the mocktail. If not, put the concoction in a cocktail shaker with the ice and shake until chilled. 

Strain out the ice and divide the mocktail between two glasses and garnish them with the lemon-cherry cocktail sticks.  

Enjoy! 

It's Sunday FunDay again and this week we are all sharing Marvelous Mocktails. Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds and her able assistant, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Amaretto Sour Mocktail by Food Lust People Love
• Baby Yoda Soda from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Blackberry Virgin Mojito by Making Miracles
• Color-Changing Nam Dok Anchan (Butterfly Pea Flower Lemonade) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Frozen Strawberry Margarita Mocktail by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Non Alcoholic Spiced Sangria by Sneha's Recipe
• Virgin Margarita from Palatable Pastime

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Homemade Pub-Style Pickled Onions

Homemade pub-style pickled onions are easy to make, crunchy and sour with a hint of sweetness, perfect with sharp cheddar cheese or in a dirty martini. 

Any pub in the UK worth its salt will have jars of pickled onions to serve with a ploughman’s lunch of cheese, bread and ham. The better ones will offer you pickled onions they’ve made themselves. Honestly, it’s so easy, they really all should. 

The only fiddly thing is peeling the tiny onions and that is made easier by covering them in boiling water and then refreshing them in iced water. The skins just slip right off. Save them to throw in your next stockpot so they don’t go to waste. 

Homemade Pub-Style Pickled Onions

Ideally, you should make this using genuine Sarson’s Malt Vinegar or, failing that here in the States, at least make sure you use malt vinegar. This recipe is adapted from one on the Sarson’s website.

Ingredients

2 cups or 475ml malt vinegar

1 lb or 450g small pickling onions 

2 tablespoons fine sea salt

1/2 cup or 100g granulated sugar

10 peppercorns

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

1 teaspoons coriander seeds 

2 bay leaves

Method

Put the onions in a large heatproof bowl. Cover them with boiling water and stir for about 30 seconds. Drain them in a colander them return them to the bowl and cover with iced water. Drain again. 

To peel them cut off the stem end and squeeze the little onion out of its peel. Or if you tend to lose another layer of onion this way, you can cut off both end and use a sharp knife to remove the skins. 

Once the onions are peeled, put them in non-reactive bowl and sprinkle them with the salt. Cover the bowl with a upturn plate or some cling film and leave overnight or up to 24 hours. When you think about it, give the onions a good shake to make sure they are all equally as salted.

Meanwhile pour the vinegar and sugar into a large saucepan with the peppercorns, mustard seeds and bay leaves. My bay leaves are fresh but you can certainly use dried ones. The Sarson recipe didn't specify. 

Put the lid on the pan, bring to the boil then remove from the heat and set aside to allow the spices to infuse.

The following day rinse the onions with cool running water and then pat them dry.

Pack the onions into a sterilized 20 oz or 600ml jar with the bay leaves. 

Pour over the vinegar, along with the mustard, peppercorns and coriander. Completely cover the onions with the liquid. Seal and leave to pickle in a cool place for 6 weeks. Since it’s a warm summer where I am right now, I left mine to pickle in the kitchen for three days and then refrigerated the jar for the rest of the time. 

Enjoy these pub-style pickled onions with cheddar and ham or in a dry martini. 

It’s the first Wednesday of the month and that means it’s time for our Foodie Extravaganza party. This month we are celebrating National Pickle Month. Check out of the great pickle recipes below. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. 

• Haitian Pikliz by Magical Ingredients
• Homemade Pub-Style Pickled Onions by Food Lust People Love 
• Lemon Pickled Lotus Root by Palatable Pastime
• Pickled Ramps by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pickled Rhubarb by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Quick Pickled Zucchini and Red Onions by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Stuffed Gunda / Lasoda Pickle With Mango by Sneha's Recipe

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays by cooking and baking together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board.

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Cheerios Banana Muffins #MuffinMonday

Cheerios Banana Muffins are made with crushed Cheerios or, I suppose, their store-brand equivalent and sweet ripe bananas. Bake a batch for someone you love. 

Almost every morning, my father has a bowl of Cheerios with fruit and yogurt (also wheat bran!) which is a very healthy breakfast and possibly the reason he has made it to the great age of 85 years old. It certainly doesn’t hurt. 

When he was planning to visit last year I bought a box in readiness and then COVID hit and the trip was canceled. For 15 months that box has languished in my pantry until finally I couldn’t take it anymore. It had to be opened and used!

I started looking for recipes with Cheerios and was surprised by how many there are. Who knew? It occurs to me that they would also work great in Uncle Hector’s 100 Cookies so a batch of those is next on the to-be-baked list.

This is touted on the Cheerios website as the perfect breakfast on the go since it already has cereal baked right in. I cannot disagree. Equally, these muffins make a great snack for your tea or coffee break. 

Cheerios Banana Muffins

This recipe is adapted from the one on the actual Cheerios website. They want you to put a whole cup of raisins as well but I knew that wouldn’t be popular at my house because, and I quote my younger daughter, people like plain things. Raisins do not qualify. 

Ingredients

2 cups or 54g Cheerios cereal, plus a little extra for decoration

1 1/4 cups or 156g all-purpose flour

1/2 cup or 100g packed brown sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 medium very ripe bananas (about 195g, peeled weight)

2/3 cup or 156ml milk

3 tablespoons canola or other light oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 egg

Method

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.  Prepare a 12-cup regular-size muffin pan by greasing the cups or lining them with paper muffin liners.

Crush the cereal with a rolling pin in a Ziploc bag or with a small food processor until fairly fine. One comment on another blog that shared a similar recipe said that the muffins were gritty because the Cheerios weren’t crushed finely enough so I did mine in the food processor. No one wants gritty muffins.

In large bowl, whisk together the Cheerios crumbs, flour, brown sugar and baking powder and salt. 

In another mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. 

Add in the milk, oil, vanilla and egg. Whisk till well combined. 

Pour the wet ingredients in the dry and fold just until moistened. 

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle with a few Cheerios for decoration, if desired. 

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. 

I must confess that while they look fun and are crunchy when first baked, the Cheerios on top got chewy after a day in an airtight container. My husband didn’t mind them. My younger daughter picked them off. You do you. The important thing is that everyone liked the muffins themselves!

Enjoy! 

It's Muffin Monday! Check out all the lovely muffins by blogger friends are sharing.

• Banana Rhubarb Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheerios Banana Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• S'mores Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sourdough Strawberry Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Vegan Chocolate Cherry Muffins from Magical Ingredients

 

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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