So we all know by now that I’m a proper foodie – I love cake, I love steak and I love pretty much everything else in between – so I was absolutely thrilled to be contacted by Match.com recently and asked to come up with a dessert recipe for their Short and Sweet Thanksgiving Speed Dating event, which is taking place this Thursday at Love Die Late in Fitzrovia at 6.30pm. Click here for full event info.
Obviously, for me it had to include chocolate – I mean, chocolate really is the unofficial aphrodisiac, isn’t it? It may not have the specific chemical properties of an aphrodisiac but I know that I definitely find someone a bit more fanciable if there is chocolate involved!
Peanut Butter is always a favourite of mine too, and when combined with chocolate it is so bad, but oh sooooo good!
I had actually worked out a recipe for these recently for a friend who also has a serious infatuation with chocolate and peanut butter, so luckily I didn’t have to go through the painstaking process of working out quantities and ingredients and the serious amount of trial and error again – I just had to remember what I had done and send it across to Match.com to see what they thought, and luckily, they liked it!
I decided to pair it with a salted caramel sauce – just a very very simple recipe that I’ve been making for ages now – no complicated caramelising things or any of that stuff with sugar thermometers etc, just ingredients in a pan and stir – easy peasy!
This dessert will be served at Match.com’s Short and Sweet Thanksgiving Speed Dating night on Thursday. Click here for tickets and more information about the evening or search the hashtag #shortandsweet!
What You Need:
For the brownie mix
300g plain chocolate
200g granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
20g cocoa powder
150g butter
100g plain flour
pinch of salt
65g light brown sugar
For the peanut butter layer
40ml milk
160g icing sugar
250g smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 x 10 inch tin
How To Do It:
1. Melt the butter and sugar together in a bowl and set aside to cool.
2. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter, vanilla extract, milk and icing sugar for the peanut butter layer. It will take a bit of elbow grease to mix so give it some welly! It will be a cookie dough like consistency when it is all mixed. Add extra icing sugar if it is too wet.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the tin with greaseproof paper, leaving an overhang to make getting the cooked brownies out of the tin easier!
4. Mix the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the melted chocolate/butter mix. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until it is smooth. Sieve in the flour, pinch of salt and cocoa powder and mix until completely smooth.
5. Grab the peanut butter dough ball and roll out to a thin flat layer. Pour half the brownie mix into the tin and spread evenly. Place the peanut butter dough layer into the tin, on top of the first half of the brownie mix. You may need to break section and patch up the layer to create a full coverage. Pout the other half of the brownie mix on top of the peanut butter layer (essentially creating a brownie-peanut-brownie sandwich)
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked through but still moist (test with a skewer)
7. Let the brownies completely cool before removing from the tin. Peel off the greaseproof paper and slice carefully. Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with salted caramel sauce (recipe below) to serve.
For the salted caramel sauce, simple melt 100g light brown sugar, 100g caster sugar, 150g butter and 100g golden syrup and simmer for a few minutes.
Add 250ml of double cream and 2 teaspoons of high quality salt (not table salt!)
Taste and add a little extra salt if necessary.
Cook for another few minutes and the. Remove from the heat. Pour into a jug for serving (it thickens more as it cools) or pour straight over the brownies! Yum!
Enjoy!!
R xx
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*This post is sponsored by match.com
For more information see their Twitter (@match_uk) and Instagram (@ukmatch)
1 Comment
K. Elizabeth @ YUMMommy
November 25, 2015 at 12:50 amThese look absolutely delicious! I'm a bit of a food lover myself. Will definitely give this recipe a spin.