United Cakedom: crunchy peanut butter

It's officially summer, but my children are still in school for another week or so and it's all a go with plays and projects and school visits. Then they will be off and it will be the juggle of work and keeping them entertained.

Although it sounds as if I am complaining I'm not. I enjoy my time with my children and can't wait to spend time with them! I recently made them these cookies and they have requested them again so I have it on the list to make them over the summer holidays.

Recipe was adapted from Eric Lanlard's Afternoon Tea book - which weirdly I have never reviewed here on my blog. Eric Lanlard has several books and I own all of them because he is one of my absolute favorites and if you ever come across one of his books you should get it!

These cookies were amazing. I changed a few things so the recipe below reflects how I made them!

Peanut butter Banana Cookies

125g mashed ripe banana (approx 2 small bananas or 1 large banana)

100g crunchy peanut butter

70g butter, melted

50g dark brown sugar

85g golden caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

200g self-rising flour

2 tsp baking powder

30g dark chocolate chips

20g peanut butter chips

- 50g dark chocolate chips & 50g peanut butter chips

Gently beat the banana, peanut butter, and butter together until combined. Then mix in both sugars and the vanilla bean paste until just combined. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the peanut butter mixture. Then fold in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. Form a dough and cover in clingfilm and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour or over night.

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/gas mark 4 - Line your baking sheets with baking paper. Using an ice cream scoop out the dough and place on the prepared baking sheets, leave space between the cookies. Bake for 12-15 minutes, I know my oven has a hot spot so about half way though I rotated my baking sheets and swamped one from the top shelf to the bottom shelf.

(Makes about 9 cookies using the ice cream scoop, you can make them smaller the baking time is roughly the same but check on them at about 10 minutes.)

Leave the cookies to cool, while cooling gently melt the dark chocolate chips and peanut butter chips together, us using your preferred method. Some people put a bowl on to a swimming pan of water, some use a microwave, I just pop them into my heavy bottom pan and melt it on a low heat. Then place the melted chocolate into a piping bag or a sandwich bag snip the tip and drizzle across the cookies.

Bananas go off so quickly this recipe is a great way to use them up and they taste amazing!! Did you know you can also freeze your ripe bananas? If you are using frozen bananas just let them defrost slightly and drain off any liquid before using them in the recipe.

If you make them let me know via twitter or instagram - I love sharing everyone's photos!

I know it's Fluffernutter not Fluffernuffer, but see I heard wrong the first time I ever had anyone say Fluffernutter to me and I have never gotten it right since.

If you know me, I talk funny. And I don't think I talk funny just because I have an American accent in a foreign country kinda way. I mean I say words wrong and I make up words without even thinking about it. It's just that sometimes my brain is on fast forward and my mouth doesn't always keep up with changes in wordage.

These blondies are a very good example of my thought process. First I wanted to make banana brownies. Then I thought that bananas would be good with peanut butter. Then I was like you know what's good with peanut butter? Marshmallows!! Then I was like ooooooo fluffernuffers! Then the bananas were completely dropped from the ingredient list.

It's a mess living in my head!

If you are know asking yourself what the heck is a fluffernutter? I will tell you it's a sandwich. Specifically a sandwich with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. According to what I have read it has to be on white bread as well. I myself have never had a fluffernutter sandwich, but I love the combo of peanut butter and marshmallows.

So, I made peanut butter and marshmallow blondies and called them Fluffnuffer Blondies! One last thing the best thing about these blondies is that they can be made in one pot! I am always 100% in favor of less dishes.

Fluffernuffer Blondies

100g unsalted butter
225g white chocolate, broken up
175g light muscovado sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
200g crunchy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
80-100g mini marshmallows

Heat the oven to 180C and line the sides of an 8 in/20cm square cake pan.
Melt the butter and white chocolate together in a medium/large saucepan over a very low heat. When the butter has melted remove from the heat and stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Beat in the sugar, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla until combined. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the mixture and fold in until just combined. Gently pour/spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Then scatter the mini marshmallows all over the top until completely covered.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Since you can't see the top of the blondies, due to all the marshmallows, you won't be able to tell if they are golden brown. If you are unsure give them an extra few minutes it won't hurt. Also if the marshmallows start to brown too quickly just place a loose sheet of aluminium foil on top.
Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares and then eat them!