Brazil Nut Chocolate Cookies

I like chocolate covered Brazil nuts. It was only natural that I should then make chocolate cookies and put Brazil nuts in said chocolate cookies.

I know I am not the first person to think of putting Brazil nuts in chocolate cookies. However it was the first time I put this combination together and it was delicious!

There seems to be a lot of stresses on being the first to do something. It starts at such a young age. Not that long ago I had my youngest throw a tantrum because her sister went down the stairs first.

This was first thing in the morning and I was standing in the bedroom door half awake trying to reason with her that it doesn't matter who is first because the end result will be the same. They will both be down the stairs.

Whatever logic I was trying to instil in her that morning wasn't working. My patience having reached its limit, I yelled to her sister get up here and walk down with her. The reasoning being that that way they would both be “first.”

It’s kinda like that with these cookies. Someone else may have made chocolate cookies with Brazil nuts before me AKA going down the stairs first. However once the cookies were baked the end result was the same we had cookies! AKA we all ended up at the bottom of the stairs.

So that we are all at the bottom of the stairs here’s how I made these cookies…

Brazil Nut Chocolate Cookies 

200g dark chocolate

100g butter, room temperature

100g caster sugar

150g light brown sugar

2 large eggs

130g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp salt

100g dark chocolate chunks

150g brazil nuts, chopped

Heat the oven to 160C fan/180C/gas mark 4 and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a simmering pot of water. Leave to cool.
Beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until just combined. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, and salt together before adding half to the butter mixture. Once it’s incorporated add the rest of the flour mixture. Once it’s all combined mix in the melted chocolate, before folding in the chocolate chunks and brazil nuts.

Using an ice cream scoop scoop out the batter and place them on the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges get a little crispy. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!

notes: Today is the first of a new year for all of us! I still like to go on social media at midnight to tell my friends in America that the New Year has arrived. It’s my way of bragging that I am in the New Year first! This recipe is adapted from The Boy Who Bakes by Edd Kimber. AKA or also-known-as.

Peanut Butter Birthday Crunch Cake

My littlest one had a birthday last Saturday and when I asked her what sort of cake I should make her she said “peanut butter.” Then I asked what she wanted for dinner (they always get what they want for dinner) I got the same response.

So, peanut butter it was. On Friday after nursery I made some chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting and on her actual birthday I thought I’d make this peanut butter crunch cake I had remembered reading about in the Outsider Tart book Baked in America.

I've been baking from this book now for 2 years and it’s finally dawned on me that they must use a fan-assisted oven. All the cakes I've baked from the book takes almost double the time suggested.

Anyhow we took her out for the day so I had a late afternoon start and because of the extra time needed to cook it through she went to bed without any birthday cake. Luckily she hadn't really noticed.

So, the following day I gave her a square after breakfast. It’s what we call in America a “coffee cake” because you eat it with a cup of coffee and since most people have coffee in the morning I thought it okay to give her as dessert after breakfast. Birthday’s are special and therefore I didn't feel guilty about giving her cake after breakfast. I already felt guilty enough for having terrible time management!

She took one look at it and declared she didn't like it. Didn't even try it, she just didn't like the look of it.

I should know better then to give a child a cake without frosting to be licked off and the cake left…

Lesson learned.

I liked it and everyone I pawned it off on liked it. So, despite the roller coaster of emotions I went through to please a now 4 year old it was a good cake!

Peanut Butter Crunch Cake

340g milk chocolate chips

115g smooth peanut butter

450g plain flour

450g light brown sugar

225g butter, softened

225g smooth peanut butter

4 large eggs

240ml whole milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb of soda

½ tsp salt

Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan-assisted or 200F for a conventional oven. Grease and line a tray bake tin 12x9x2 inches or 30x23x5 cm, lightly dust with flour tap out any excess.

Melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a bowl over a simmering pot of water. Stir occasionally, once melted remove from the heat and set aside. This is for a chocolate swirl in the middle and on top of the cake. (It reminds me of making puppy chow!)

In an electric mixer, on low, beat the flour, sugar, butter, and peanut butter until crumbs form. Remove 3 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside.

Add the eggs one at a time to the remaining crumb mixture. Then add the milk, vanilla, baking powder, bicarb, and salt. Beat until just combined.

Spread half of the batter in the prepared tin, then top with half the chocolate mixture gently swirl it together without combining before topping with the rest of the batter. Then drizzle the rest of the chocolate mixture on top.

Pour over the crumb topping you set aside and gently press down. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer test tells you that it’s done. Cover the cake with tin foil if the crumbs look like they are scorching. Let it cool completely before cutting up and eating!!

notes: recipe is from Outsider Tart’s Baked in America. I have skimmed back through the book and didn't read anywhere that they use fan-assisted. It could state it clearly somewhere? However, this is an observation I've made from baking from the book. Check out some of the other things I've baked from the book!