Sweets for my sweet

Happy (slightly belated) Birthday to Miss Shara! As tradition dictates I baked up a storm in place of a birthday present. I probably should go out and buy a proper gift but I think instead I’ll just continue to work under the assumption that she enjoys receiving massive bags full of cake!

So this year I baked raspberry and white chocolate blondies and milk chocolate peanut butter cookies.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies

For the Blondies I used a recipe by Picky Palate and oh it was delicious! I have to say that I’m normally not the biggest blondie fan (except Debbie Harry of course, she’s ace) as more often than not they’re too sweet and too dry. The addition of raspberries in these blondies however cuts through the sweetness and helps keep them moist. 

Ingredients

60g unsalted butter
180g white chocolate, chopped
110g caster sugar
50g brown sugar
115g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
120g white chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
170g fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and grease and line the inside of an 8x8 tin.

Melt the butter and 180g of white chocolate together in a heat proof bowl placed over barely simmering water, once melted place to one side.

Briefly mix the flour, baking powder, sugars, salt and remaining 120g white chocolate together with a fork. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sour cream until well mixed. Add this mixture and the butter/white chocolate to the dry ingredients, mix until just combined.

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I used an Alice Medrich recipe as a base for these cookies from her wonderful book ‘Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy’. 

Ingredients 

170g plain flour

½ teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon flaky sea salt

100g unsalted butter, softened

50g dark brown sugar

60g granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300g chunky peanut butter

150g milk chocolate, chopped into large chunks

4tbsp milk

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C/gas mark 3 

Place flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix briefly with a fork. 

In a large bowl or electric mixer combine butter with sugars until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla extract, peanut butter and milk chocolate chunks and mix well until blended. Add the flour and stir until just combined. The mixture at this point will be short and crumbly. Stir slowly the mixture very slowly adding the milk a little at a time until the dough comes together. 

Roll mixture into walnut size balls and squish down with a fork. Make sure to leave about 2 inches between the cookies otherwise they’ll all meld together. 

Bake for around 15 minutes until the cookies are lightly golden. Don’t worry if they’re a little soft they will harden once out the oven. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before using a spatula to transfer them to a wire cooling rack. 

Enjoy! x