Mini Peanut Butter Cup Buttermilk Doughnuts with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache

Wow what a mouthful! This was one of the first bakes I made in our new home! and you know what I was most excited about...aside from eating them, was photographing them against this mint green wall! 

Isn't it just dreamy!

It's like our landlord knew mint green was my fave colour! It's one of the things I love most about our house...along with our dishwasher! It's been a long 2 years without one! 

I whipped up these mini peanut butter cup doughnuts for father's day because Byron is all about the peanut butter so I knew he'd be all over these! I also got a mini doughnut pan for Christmas that had yet to make its debut so it seemed like a good combo! 

While I was photographing the doughnuts and Byron was patiently waiting to try them, I snapped these pics of him and Ella Bella in the garden.  He is such a great daddy to our baby girl and we're so lucky to have him in our lives!

Since it was my first time baking doughnuts I don't have much to compare them to! but the peanut butter chocolate ganache was the perfect pairing for these soft little buttermilk babies and the chopped peanut butter cups strewn throughout the mix were a definite highlight! Topped with generous chunks of peanut butter cup and they really are a peanut butter lovers dream! 

Stay tuned for all kinds of doughnut flavour varieties coming soon!

Mini Peanut Butter Cup Buttermilk Doughnuts with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache:

Makes 18 mini's

Adapted slightly from Picky Palate

3/4 cup plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp instant vanilla pudding mix

6 mini reese's peanut butter cups

3/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup chocolate chips

3 tbsp extra thick double cream (just use regular double cream for a runnier smoother ganache)

2 tbsp peanut butter

6 mini reese's peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease doughnut pan - if using a silicone pan you can skip this step.

Place flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg, vanilla and pudding mix into a large bowl.  Add smashed peanut butter cups and pour in the buttermilk.  Using a whisk, stir to combine.

Scoop batter into doughnut pan, I had to make mine in two batches.  Bake for 15-18 minutes until cooked through.  Remove and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, and melt in 30 second intervals.  Add cream to chocolate, stirring until smooth.  Stir in the peanut butter, put back in the microwave for 15 more seconds.   If the ganache needs thinning, put back in the microwave for another 15 seconds.  

Chop up the mini peanut butter cups into quarters and garnish the ganache with them.  

Eat and enjoy! 

Giant Birthday Snickers Cookie

It has been well documented on this blog that my husband loves cookies! I always want to bake him extravagant layer cakes when his birthday rolls around but he always requests the humble cookie instead! To sneakily do both I baked him up the cookie dough layer cake masterpiece back in 2012 but ever since I have just stuck to giant cookies…because if he wants a cookie, then I'll give him a cookie, but it will have to be a super size one! 

He loves snickers and I'd already made him a Toblerone one last year that never got blogged and a triple chocolate peanut butter one for Valentine's so I decided a snickers one would be a tasty birthday treat.  It is a lovely fail safe cookie recipe that I always use as my base and then you can just throw whatever mix ins you like in there.  If you were partial to caramel then I reckon some caramel swirled through or drizzled on top would be extra delicious but we're not really caramel fans over here so I opted just to keep it simple...

little chopped up snicker pieces thrown on top of some warm drizzled chocolate…

and finished off with a swirly wave of rich chocolate frosting and larger snickers bits!

The birthday boy loved it! so much so, that when some friends popped round unexpectedly later that evening and I asked him on the sly if he wanted to serve some of his birthday cookie to them he declined! apparently it was too good for sharing! 

Giant Birthday Snickers Cookie:

Serves 12-14

Adapted from Cooking Classy

2 3/4 cups plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups chopped snickers bars

1 cup milk chocolate chunks

1/4 cup milk chocolate, melted

2 snickers bars

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.  Grease large cookie tray with butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornflour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together until pale and fluffy.  Stir in eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add vanilla.  With mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Add chopped snickers and chocolate chunks and mix in with a spatula until incorporated.  

Break dough into four portions and drop into four corners of the tray.  Using your hands spread the dough out until it covers all of the tray and is relatively smooth on top.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are lightly golden.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes.  

Melt 1/4 cup chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in two 30 second intervals.  Once melted, allow to cool for a few minutes and transfer into a piping bag.   Drizzle over the cookie diagonally.  Chop one and a half snickers bars into slices, and chop the other half into tiny cubes.  Throw the cubes across the cookie on top of the drizzle.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

Adapted from The Novice Housewife

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup icing sugar

60g unsalted butter

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Sift the cocoa powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.  

Add the butter and beat on low to incorporate the ingredients and then turn up to high and beat for 4-5 minutes until fluffy.  Add the milk, half a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.  Stir in the vanilla at the end. 

Transfer to a piping bag and pipe frosting around the edge of the cookie.

Use the snickers slices you chopped up previously and place them flat down on top of the frosting, one after each swirl of frosting.

Eat and enjoy!