Comfort Food

Mini Peanut Butter Cheesecakes with Salted Caramel Sauce

/ Claire / Leave a comment

This recipe is only for people who LOVE peanut butter! The filling is rich, creamy and packed full of smooth peanut butter.

Mini PB cheesecakes

For the crust, I have used caramelised Lotus Biscoff biscuits which are quite dangerous to have around the house as they are so moreish. However, they are perfect for the base of just about any cheesecake. Their delicate spice and caramel flavour work so well with the peanut butter and the salted caramel sauce.

I have made a batch of caramel sauce myself, but Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Salted Caramel Sauce works perfectly well here too, just warm the jar slightly to make the sauce pour easily.

I think these would be great for a small, but decadent dessert and would work well for a holiday party.

Mini PB cheesecakes1

Crust:
25 Lotus Biscoff biscuits
50g salted butter, melted

Filling:
300g Full fat cream cheese at room temperature, I used Philadelphia
200g sour cream
300g Smooth peanut butter
120g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
2tbs plain/all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Caramel Sauce:
200g sugar
100g salted butter
120g double/heavy cream
1tsp sea salt

I used Masterclass 12 hole mini sandwich tin for my cheesecakes, but these can easily be made in muffin cases too.

Method:
Start by making the caramel sauce to allow it time to cool.

Add the sugar to a deep, heavy based pan and heat until melted. Stir in the butter until combined and then pour in the cream, stirring all the time until it reaches a rolling boil. It will bubble and rise up as it boils which is why you need a pan deep enough. Allow to boil for a minute or two, it should be the colour of golden amber. Stir in the salt and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare the tin by lightly greasing the sides.

For the crust, blitz the biscuits in a food processor until they are fine crumbs. Add to the melted butter and mix with a wooden spoon.

Equally distribute the buttery crumbs between the cups and firm them down with the back of a spoon, shot glass, or pastry tamper if you have one. The crusts need to be neat and compact so you don’t have any crumbs in the actual cheesecake.

Bake the crusts for 5 minutes and allow to cool while you make the filling

For the filling, add the cream cheese and sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. You can also use a hand mixer for this. Beat on high speed until super smooth and fluffy.

Add the vanilla, cream and beat again until smooth, then add the eggs until just combined. Finally stir in the peanut butter until fully incorporated. I do this final step by hand so as not to whip too much air in that could crack the cheesecakes.

Pour in the filling onto the part-baked crusts. They will not rise very much, so you can fill almost to the top.

Bake for around 18-20 minutes or until just set. Keep an eye on them as they will crack if over-baked.

Mini PB cheesecakes closeup2

Remove from the oven and allow them to cool down to room temperature. Then wrap in plastic and chill thoroughly. The loose bottoms of this tin allow you to push the refrigerated cheesecakes out with no problems.

Mini PB cheesecakes closeup

When ready to serve, pour on a little salted caramel sauce. These are super rich and sweet and I have served mine with some tart blackberries.

Plum and Pecan Friands with a Maple Glaze

/ Claire / Leave a comment

This is my first friand recipe using autumnal flavours. The plums that are in season at the moment are delicious – sweet and winey. They are great just eaten on their own and the children love eating them, but they are lovely to cook with too.

plum pecan friands

These friands are made with ground pecans rather than the usual ground almonds. My eldest son says he doesn’t like pecans (what is wrong with him?) but he liked these very much. He did remove the pecan on the top though!

The flavour of the pecans is lovely and goes so well with the cinnamon and orange zest and the seasonal fresh plums are delicious. The maple glaze is optional really, but really works well with all the flavours.

Plum Pecan friand 3

The first batch of these turned out a little wet, so after I have chopped the plums, I place them on some kitchen paper to absorb a little of the moisture. You only have to do that if the plums are extra juicy though.

Plum Pecan friand closeup

Ingredients:
6 large egg whites/250ml Two Chicks pasteurised egg whites
250g icing sugar
130g pecans + 12 extra to top each cake
100g plain/all-purpose flour – sieved with 2tsp cinnamon
Zest of an un-waxed orange
160g melted butter + extra for greasing the tin
5 small ripe plums – chopped into small pieces and placed on some kitchen paper

Maple Glaze:
½ cup sieved icing sugar
2-3tbs maple syrup – enough to thin

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C and brush the pan with the extra melted butter

Tip the pecans into the food processor, a coffee grinder, or I used the milling attachment on my Nutribullet and pulse the pecans until they are completely ground into crumbs. Make sure you keep agitating the nuts to keep them on the move, otherwise, as they are quite moist, you can end up with pecan butter.

Tip the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until broken down and frothy. Add the butter and zest and whip until fluffy.

On low speed, add the ground pecans, icing sugar, flour and cinnamon until just combined. Stir in the plums by hand.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. I use an ice cream scoop to do this as I make less mess.

Plum Pecan friands closeup2

Place a pecan nut on the top of each cake and bake for 30-35 minutes or until they have risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave to rest for at least 15 minutes before gently turning out onto a wire cooling rack. I actually left these until they were almost cool because they are quite delicate.

Leave to cool completely before making the glaze.

Plum Pecan friand closeup1

For the glaze, simply stir maple syrup into the icing sugar until you have a runny consistency and drizzle back and forth over the cooled cakes.

These are delicious served with coffee, but would be perfect for an autumn picnic too.

Baked Sour Cream Doughnuts with Pumpkin Pie Spice Sugar

/ Claire / Leave a comment

The weather has been so murky and misty lately that I decided to try out an autumn recipe early with the children who are on ‘summer’ holidays.  These are very moist, sour cream doughnuts, spiked with cinnamon and coated in pumpkin pie spice sugar.

donut tower

The doughnuts are baked rather than fried, so you don’t have to heat a vat of oil and then worry about the kitchen catching fire. Or is that just me?

I used to have a neighbour who refused to deep fry in her kitchen, due to the oily residue left behind. Her family still wanted deep fried chips, so she had her deep fat fryer installed in the garage and made them do it outside!

Anyway, no frying here, just baked delicious and gently spiced doughnuts, brushed with melted butter and coated in pumpkin pie spice sugar.

baked donuts

The doughnut moulds I used came from Amazon.  They are silicone, full sized and come in a set of three, so no waiting while one batch cools before baking off the rest.

I have used one of my disposable piping bags to pipe the batter into my doughnut moulds, but you could easily make these in a mini muffin tin too.

These are so quick and easy to make, I have also used cups here, so no weighing out either.

baked donuts1

Ingredients:
½ cup sour cream
1 extra large egg
1tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup vegetable oil + a little extra for greasing the doughnut mould
½ cup golden caster sugar
1 cup plain/all-purpose flour
1½tsp cinnamon
½tsp baking powder
½tsp baking soda
½tsp salt

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and prepare the doughnut moulds.  This recipe makes 8 full sized doughnuts, but if you have a mini doughnut mould, you will get more

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together the sour cream, egg, vanilla, oil and sugar together until its light and smooth.

In another bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon together.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.

Transfer to a piping bag, cut off the end and pipe the batter into the prepared moulds.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Leave in the moulds to cool for 5-10 minutes while you prepare the coating.

baked donut

Pumpkin Pie Spiced Coating:
1 cup golden caster sugar
2tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Generous knob of butter – melted and cooled

spiced sugar

Method:
Brush the doughnuts with the butter and place into the sugar.  Using your hands, completely coat the doughnut in the sugar, tapping off the excess.

baked donut closeup

Enjoy while fresh and warm!