homemade peanut butter cups

I briefly mentioned in this post that I had discovered Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and how it rocked my socks off. That stuff didn't last 3 days in our freezer.

I've tried the classic American Reese's peanut butter cups (and my favourite, Reese's pieces), and think they are annoyingly delicious, but they definitely contain some questionable ingredients and are generally not the healthiest choice. I am not at all against having such snacks now and then, but I was convinced that I could try and whip up something similar at home, with fewer (and pronounceable) ingredients.

So I experimented, and it actually worked!

I'm sure this isn't an original idea and no doubt you can find countless versions of this on Pinterest, but here's what I did (and it was so easy & quick!):

Ingredients:
100g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa Green & Blacks)
100g milk chocolate (Again, used Green & Blacks)
120g no sugar added smooth peanut butter 
10g agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup, can add more)

To make:
1) Prepare a mini muffin tin (or a regular one, or any moulds you like), line with mini muffin cases.
2) Heat half of each chocolate bar in the microwave until completely melted.
3) Fill each muffin case with 2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate, make sure it's levelled, place in fridge or freezer until hardened.
4) Stir the peanut butter with the agave nectar until mixed.
5) Once the chocolate is hardened, fill each muffin case with 2 teaspoons of the peanut butter mixture, level, place in freezer until hardened.
6) Repeat 2 & 3. Freeze until hardened, and then tuck in!

They can be stored in the freezer if you prefer them to be rock hard (E and I both preferred them frozen), but they can be stored in the fridge too - the peanut butter portion will just be a little softer. They are pretty virtuous as far as chocolatey treats go, and as with the B&J ice cream, these didn't last very long around here either.

And if you're thinking how cute those polka dot mini muffin cases are, me too.

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These muffins don't exist.

I said to E, "Today I'm going to bake some healthy chocolate muffins." He replied, "That doesn't even exist."

Look, I'm no fool. I won't pretend that this recipe is super duper healthy, fat free, made out of unicorn calories or whatever. But, they are definitely healthier than your average double choc muffins, which means they won't land on your hips for even a second - they will just make your day brighter, your hair shinier, and your chocolate cravings at bay. Not scientifically proven, but they are packed full of protein and very little "bad" fat, which is always good.

I found this recipe, and tweaked it a little. It was my first time baking in our new flat (fun adventures included the smoke alarm going off multiple times...) so I'm still getting used to the oven, but all in all they turned out pretty good.

The oven was preheated to 220ºC. Then I mixed 1/2 cup raspberry jam (no sugar added), 1/2 cup caster sugar, 1/4 honey, 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt, 2 egg whites & 2 tsp vanilla extract in a big bowl.

Onto the dry ingredients. Even though the original recipe asks for half each of white & whole wheat flour, I decided to go with wholewheat spelt flour for the whole cup. I didn't mind if they didn't turn out as fluffy - in my head, the maths went all wholewheat = more chocolate allowed.

With the flour, I mixed 1/2 cup cocoa (Green & Blacks is excellent), a couple of pinches of sea salt, and 1 tsp each of baking powder & bicarbonate of soda.

Then all I did was mix the wet & dry ingredients together. I was careful to not overmix it as that results in tough, dry muffins, and folded in the chocolate chips gently at the end. I put in a 1/2 cup, but of course, a heaped one.

I made the muffins quite large so my recipe only made 10, but you could easily make 12 with the same amount. If you have a squeezy ice cream scooper, that comes in very handy when dividing batter before baking.

As a pretty topping, I melted some smooth peanut butter and swirled it around at the top of each muffin. I completely forgot to photograph this step, but it's pretty self-explanatory.

I popped them in the oven at 220ºC for 5 minutes, and then lowered the temperature to 190ºC for about 10 minutes.

They came out perfectly cooked on the inside - not at all dry. Look at the melty chocolate in there!

The real seal of approval comes from E when it comes to "sneakily healthy" food. Hailing from France where butter is practically a religion, I was unsure of what he would think of this.

He said that he would describe it as moist (hate that word), chocolatey & gourmet. 

Clearly, it's a winner.


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Ramen for Cheats

I know that ramen noodle bars are quite popular right now thanks to a couple of trendy places in Central London. I've yet to try them, but I have walked past Bone Daddies in Soho and it was somewhat surreal. I peeked in and it was full of slick looking young people, with loud music and people sipping wine.

In Japan, there are tons of ramen bars. But they are usually dingy, with wooden counters and cooks shouting, and they're filled with people dining alone for a 10 minute lunch or a quick bite before heading home for the night. Often they are businessmen on their lunch break, or middle aged men washing their noodles down with an ice cold beer.

Because ramen noodles are essentially a fast food, and therefore inexpensive and not a meal to socialise over.

Now, ramen is one of my favourite foods. It was a staple lunch for us at home, but it wasn't the instant noodle kind, nor a particularly gourmet rendition - it's something to be prepared quickly, and eaten (= slurped) just as fast as it was made.

The day after an evening that I had indulged in a few drinks, I woke up not with a hangover, but with an unquenchable craving for ramen. Knowing that it was never going to let go until I had some, I specifically went to the Japan Centre in Piccadilly to pick up the ingredients I needed.

I have to start this with a disclaimer: as the title says, this isn't exactly the most authentic or the most admirable way of making ramen. But, it's far cheaper than going out for it and it's really quite good. Let's call this a glorified version of the instant noodle so I don't get into any trouble.

I chose this one to use that day, but there are lots of options in Asian food shops so you can use whatever takes your fancy. This one has non-fried noodles and tonkotsu soup (a rich, pork flavour), and serves two.

The whole thing is pretty basic. Before cooking the noodles as per the instructions (take 2-3 minutes), I prepared the additional toppings.

In ours, I used:
Boiled eggs
Ham (though it really should be pork belly)
Dried seaweed "Wakame" (that expands and becomes edible as soon as they're in hot water)
Chopped spring onions
Beansprouts

I threw in the beansprouts for the last minute while the noodles were cooking. With this pack, I had to add the flavoured stock into the cooking water once they were done, but usually with better quality, "proper" ramen packs you would dissolve the stock with hot water separately.

Once the noodles were done, I just added everything else and served them in bowls (though they are rubbish really, I didn't have any real ramen bowls on hand).

I like to add a little spice in mine, so I use La-Yu, a chilli infused sesame oil that you can get in any Asian food shop.

And make sure that when you eat it, you slurp loudly. It's rude not to.

As I said, this is basically a slightly fancy fast food, perfect for those lazy days or for a lunch to recover from the night before.

I'm curious to see what these new ramen bars are like in London though, have you been? And if so, are they any good?

Busaba Eathai & Snog

And I don't mean a post-curry smooch. But you probably guessed that.

The other day, we went on a unexpected lunchtime double date. It was supposed to be a girly catch up, but the boys managed to weasel their way in somehow (it seems they can switch on their charm when food is involved) and we ended up with the four of us, happy & hungry.

We stuck to the original plan of eating at Busaba Eathai, a Thai cuisine chain. The one we went to is on the restaurant terrace by Westfield in Shepherd's Bush, that stands alongside other popular places like Wahaca & GBK.

Compared to the more upscale Thai restaurants, the offerings on the menu are probably fairly basic. But the quality of the food is quite impressive for the price, and the portions are generous. Three of us went for the green curry, and J chose the pad thai.

I have to say, the chicken in this curry was delicious. Looking at these photos is making me want to eat it again! I chose to have the coconut rice, a favourite of mine that I love to order when available.

After the spiciness, we just couldn't say no to cooling down with some frozen yogurt from Snog inside the Westfield shopping centre. I tried chocolate froyo for the first time, and nothing goes better with chocolate than raspberries (along with strawberries, peanut butter, banana, caramel, sea salt... and lots of other things).

To burn off some of that food, of course I went for a walk around the shops. I managed to find good birthday presents for my little sister (not so little, 22 now!) so all in all, it was a good day.

Chinchin Labs: Nitro Ice-cream

To be quite fair, I go weak at the knees for ice cream. Pretty much any ice cream. So you could say that my standards aren't all that high... but, I do know enough to know that this is something quite special.

As my friend S and I were wondering around in Camden Lock yesterday, we stumbled across the Chinchin Labs, at which moment I squealed a little. I had read about this place on some review sites before, but brushed it off as somewhere that I'm not likely to bump into any time soon. Even though we weren't exactly hungry after our impressive burrito lunch, we aren't too girly in the stomach department so we marched into the little shop and watched the magic happen.

Science was always my worst subject at school, so I honestly can't tell you what kind of miracles create their ice cream, but really, who needs to know when the finished product is this dreamy?

S chose the Valrhona Chocolate with honeycomb pieces, which was decadently rich and one of the best chocolate ice creams I've ever tried. I went for the special of the week, Juicy Pineapple Choc Chip, which sounded like a curious combination but it was divine. Topped with Caramelised Pretzels, it was hard to believe that this ice cream was entirely dairy-free and made purely of pineapples (except the choc chips, of course); it was as creamy as ice cream and bursting with serious pineapple flavour.

Please try it if you're in the area, it's tucked away by the Camden Lock railway bridge. Four thumbs up!