Peanut butter triple chocolate brownie recipe

I made this chocolate brownie (without the peanut butter) to give as Christmas presents to friends last year. It’s gooey and incredible, the peanut butter gives it a lovely taste and crunch!

Ingredients

250g of unsalted butter
300g of good dark chocolate
135g of plain flour
60g of cocoa powder
150g of good white chocolate, chopped into small pieces
150g of good milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces
A large handful of milk chocolate drops
6 medium free range eggs
410g of caster sugar
A jar of good crunchy peanut butter (Meridian brand if you can get it)

Method

Cut up the butter and chop the dark chocolate into chunks, add them both to a heavy pan and melt slowly over a low heat. Use the bain marie method if you can be bothered. When melted, leave to cool.

Sieve the flour and cocoa into a bowl and set to one side.

Break the eggs into another bowl, add the caster sugar and beat with an electric mixer until the mix has doubled in size. If you lift the beaters from the mix and it leaves a trail for a few seconds, it’s done!

Pour the cooled chocolate over the eggs and sugar. Gently fold it in to avoid knocking all the air out of the mixture.

Hold the sieve over the eggy chocolate mixture and re-sieve the flour and cocoa into it, gently fold it into the mixture to avoid knocking more air out.

Add the chopped white and milk chocolate to the mix and stir in.

Line a 3cm high brownie tray with baking parchment and pour in the mixture, ease it in to the corners and smooth out the top.

Place dots of peanut butter on top of the mix (I did half with peanut butter and half without) then sprinkle the chocolate drops on top.

You don’t have to add peanut butter, why not try chopped nuts or chocolate orange segments?

Place the tray in the oven at 175C (I’ve got a fan oven) for 30 minutes.

Leave to cool, cut up into chunks!

White Russian ice cream recipe

Sometimes, a nice White Russian simply won’t do, so why not go one better than The Dude and mix it together with home made ice cream!

Ingredients

125ml of whole milk

600ml of double cream

200g of sugar

The yolks of 4 medium eggs

1 tablespoon of Agar Agar flakes (You can use gelatin if you’re not making it vegetarian)

60ml of water

150ml of good vodka

150ml of Kahlua

An ice cream mixer

Method

Add the milk, cream and sugar to a pan, put on a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. You don’t want to boil it, just heat it through until just before it boils and the sugar has dissolved.

In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks.

Slowly add a little bit of the hot milk/cream mixture whisking all the time. This is called tempering, you don’t want too much of the hot mixture to come in contact with the egg yolks or they will go lumpy. The idea is you add a little bit at a time so the yolks don’t get hot enough to solidify.

Once you’ve incorporated all of the milk/cream mixture into the egg yolks you have your custard.

Strain the custard back into a pan and heat for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

Coat the back of a spoon with the custard, run your finger across it, if you can make a line without any of the mixture running back over the line it’s ready.

Strain the custard into another bowl, cover with cling film, place in another bowl filled with ice and put it in the fridge for at least 8 hours, overnight if possible.

Add the water to a pan and sprinkle the Agar Agar flakes over the top, heat the water until the Agar Agar dissolves and stir until it thickens.

Add the vodka and Kahlua, mix and then strain into the cold custard. Give it all a good stir.

Take the freezer bowl for the ice cream maker from the freezer and immediately add the custard.

Mix it for up to 40 minutes, it should start to thicken after 20 minutes depending on how cold your freezer bowl is.

That’s it! If you want your ice cream thicker pour it from the freezer bowl into a container and place in the freezer overnight.

The Dude would be truly proud!