Halloween Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkin Rocky Road!

Rocky Road is one of my favourite things to make! It doesn't require you to turn on your mixer and wake a sleeping baby, or try and track down where the heck your whisk attachment has gone to (seriously whisk...where are you? my guess is lost in the move) and it can certainly be whipped up in one of the baby's shorter naps...and if you're lucky enough to live in a hot country it's good for those days when you can't bear to turn the oven on!  It is also SO versatile! It was one of the very first things I ever baked, using a recipe from one of those little random chocolate recipe books you get as a stocking filler! Go ahead and laugh at my embarrassing blog post back in 2009 where it made its debut. Since then I have jazzed it up using all of my favourite treats - Snickers and Oreo, Reese's peanut butter, crazy amounts of coconut and festive peppermint ones plus seasonal mini egg easter ones too!

So I thought it was about time that my peanut butter rocky road got made over into a Halloween edition! because I found a bag of reese's peanut butter pumpkins in Tesco and I knew I had to use them in my kitchen! Sadly when I opened them up they didn't look like pumpkins at all! just an oval sized peanut butter cup! so I pimped them jack-o-lantern style with a little bit of orange coloured white chocolate, green sanding sugar and chocolate sprinkles and mini chocolate chips!

I'm not exactly an artist, but hopefully there's no denying now that those are pumpkins!

I even added in peanut butter m&m's too to truly amp up the peanut butter goodness involved! and with some chopped peanut butter cups making up the bulk of the add ins you just can't go wrong! Throw some marshmallows, chopped nice and chunky, and rice krispies into the mix and you've got one delicious Halloween treat!

Not a trick in sight!

Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkin Rocky Road:

Serves 9

Adapted from Cupcake Crazy Gem

400g milk chocolate

100g dark chocolate

2 tsp vegetable oil

35g rice krispies

150g marshmallows

75g peanut butter m&m's

240g peanut butter cups (approx. 16)

9 peanut butter pumpkins

60g white chocolate, I used milky bar

1/2 tsp orange food colouring

green sanding sugar

18 chocolate sprinkles

9 mini chocolate chips

Line an 8x8 dish with parchment paper.
Melt your milk and dark chocolate in a large bowl together over a pan of boiling water.  Once melted, remove from the heat and stir in the vegetable oil.  Leave to cool.

Chop your marshmallows in half, and your peanut butter cups into quarters.  Measure out your rice krispies and peanut butter m&m's.  Check that your chocolate is completely cool - you should leave it for at least 10 minutes (if it's still warm, when you add in your chocolates they will melt so the cooling process is important!)  Once it's cool, stir in all the mix ins.  Spread evenly into your baking pan.  I like to reserve back a bit of the chocolate in the bottom of the mixing bowl to use right at the end to smooth out the surface of the rocky road.

Melt your white chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 20 second bursts - watch it because white chocolate burns easily.  I used milky bar because the lower quality white chocolate melts far easier - don't go buying any fancy stuff for this.  Once melted stir in the orange food colouring.  Put into a piping bag and snip a tiny tip off the end.

Take 9 pumpkins, and pipe a thin edge all the way round with the orange chocolate.  Do zig zag lines in the middle of each pumpkin and at the end go back with your piping bag tip to help smooth out the chocolate until the pumpkin surface is completely covered.  Sprinkle green sanding sugar on the stem, and use 2 chocolate sprinkles for the eyes.  Place a mini chocolate chip for the nose.

Once all your pumpkins are complete, place them on top of the rocky road, pushing down slightly so they set into the chocolate.

Refrigerate for 2 hours until set, or overnight.

Eat and enjoy!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Yule Log

So for Christmas this year, I didn't really end up doing much baking! That's what is great about being at my parents house surrounded by keen bakers! One sister whipped up our tropical pineapple Trifle for Christmas day dessert, another one made up some mango and ginger syllabubs, along with some homemade mince pies too!  and since I'm now 8 months pregnant I was quite happy to sit back and let it all happen, although I couldn't resist whipping up some mint magic bars with ghiradelli mint choc chips my sis had received from America and also a batch of lime curd! 

However, that was pretty restrained for me! So by the time I got to my in laws I knew I wanted to make a fancy Christmas dessert...and there had been plenty of hints dropped about how they were expecting some baked goods from me so I didn't want to disappoint! Being the huge peanut butter lovers they are, I decided to experiment with a peanut butter and chocolate yule log after the success of my coconut and chocolate yule log last Christmas.

I made a whipped peanut butter cream filling which worked perfectly with the rich chocolate-y frosting on the outside of the log, and the icing on the cake was a whole bundle of mini Reese's peanut butter cups that my sister attached to my prezzie this year! It was a great alternative to the traditional yule log...whilst still remaining festively fun! 

Since my trusty Kitchenaid has been at my sister's flat in London ever since we were in Canada, I have been pretty lost without it! I jumped at the chance of testing out this Tefal mixer to see if it was up to the job of baking such a complex dessert! 

The first thing that struck me was just how light it was! I'm used to my beast of a Kitchenaid which is so heavy to lug around! (hence why it was still in London because there was no way my sister could have carried it on the tube to bring it back to me!) but to cart this around with us over the Christmas period was super easy! It's lightness made me question whether it was going to be sturdy enough to cope with the bake I had planned...but it managed every step with ease.

It creamed the butter and sugar like a dream, with just a few scrapings down the side to incorporate it altogether, and it was so efficient in whipping the cream that I turned my back for a second and the cream was done!

 Despite having reduced power from what I'm used to with my Kitchenaid it did exactly what I needed it to do, and coped with every stage of my baking brilliantly! When I had it on the fourth speed setting, it did sound a bit like it was going to take off! but aside from that it worked like a dream and considering it's only £99 I'd say you get your money's worth for sure.

The mixing bowl isn't huge, so if you're planning to do large batches of baking like double batches of cupcakes or triple layer cakes then it might not be the mixer for you but for everyday baking it's certainly a cheaper alternative to the higher spec models out there and works just as well!

 Argos have large ranges of Tefal appliances available to buy here.

So if you're a peanut butter lover, then save this recipe away for next Christmas - it's a crowd pleaser for sure!

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Yule Log:

Serves 10-12

From Cupcake Crazy Gem

For the cake:

6 eggs

170g caster sugar

140g plain flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

284ml double cream

6 tbsp smooth peanut butter
3 tbsp condensed milk (optional)

40g caster sugar

For the frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups icing/powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp milk

14 mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Grease and line a swiss roll tin with baking parchment.  

Beat the eggs and sieved sugar together with an electric whisk for about 8 minutes until thick and creamy.  

Mix the flour, cocoa and baking powder together, then sift into the egg mixture.  Fold in very carefully, the pour into the tin.  Now tip the tin from side to side to spread the mixture into the corners.  Bake for 16-18 minutes.  

Lay a sheet of baking parchment on the work surface.  When the cake is ready, tip it onto the parchment, peel off the lining paper, then roll the cake up from the longest edge with the paper inside.  Leave to cool.  

Whip the double cream until peaks form.  Add in the peanut butter and the sugar until stiff peaks form.  At this point I underestimated the strength of the mixer and over whipped the cream slightly, so I added the condensed milk to give a creamier texture.  If you keep an eye on your cream you shouldn't need to do this.

Once completely cool, unravel the cake and spread the peanut butter cream over the top. 

Then, roll the log back up again and refrigerate whilst making the chocolate frosting. 

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.  Sieve sugar and cocoa powder into the mixing bowl 1 cup at a time.  On low speed, mix the ingredients until they come together.  Increase mixer to medium, and add the vanilla extract and milk and mix until incorporated.  Increase mixer to high speed and beat for 3 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.  

Take the log out of the fridge, and spread the frosting on thickly using a palette knife.  Use a fork to mark the frosting to give the effect of tree bark.  Go around in a circle to make knots.  Sprinkle with chopped Reese's peanut butter cups to finish off your peanut butter creation!

Eat and enjoy!

--> Please note Argos kindly donated the mixer for review, but all opinions expressed are my own. 

White & Milk Choc Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread

My second batch of banana bread in a few weeks....it wasn't planned but a bunch of black bananas sitting in the kitchen forced my hand in this! My husband told me it was time to make banana bread, and I remembered this recipe that I had pinned to my 'to bake' list on pinterest forever ago! 

and then I found myself gifted with some white choc Reese's cups from my sister for my birthday (yes you may have noticed that over half of my birthday presents consisted of American confectionary! doesn't everyone know me well!) and coupled with a bag of mini Reese's cups that I picked up in Brighton this weekend and I was ready to go! 

I had also been saving this creamy Reese's peanut butter for a special occasion.  I picked it up from TK Maxx a few months back and was waiting for a special bake before I used it.  I might be making it up but in my head it tastes far superior to any other type of peanut butter! 

I'm pretty sure that I'll never be able to just make regular banana bread ever again because this variation was SOOOO super delicious! The peanut butter gave it a great depth of flavour and those melting pools of peanut butter cups were amazing, my only complaint is that I wished there was more of them so if I made it again I'd definitely up the amount of cups I added in!

and of course we all know there's only one way to eat it...zapped in the microwave for 25 seconds and slathered in lots of butter which melts into the bread beautifully!

Be sure to give this bread a try - you'll be SO glad you did!

White & Milk Choc Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread:

Serves 10

Adapted from Cookies and Cups

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

150g mini Reese's milk chocolate cups

75g Reese's white chocolate cups

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grease the loaf pan with butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.

In a bowl of a freestanding electric mixer, beat together the bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until just combined.  The batter will be lumpy, do not over stir.

Dust the Reese's cups with some flour, and fold them into the batter with a spatula.

Spread batter into the prepared tin.

Bake for approx 1 hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

I'm entering this into Alphabakes this month being hosted by Caroline Makes as the letter is 'W'.  If you want to check out all the other W entries, check her blog at the end of the month and check The More Than Occasional Baker's blog next month for the new letter if you want to join along!