Sweet Treats

Two dessert posts in a week! What is the world coming to?

As it happens, this is a round up of stuff that I have made over the last 3 months, so it isn't that bad! And it's mostly stuff I took to work, so you needn't worry that Paul has developed a sweet tooth in some sort of midlife crisis.

At Easter I tried out my friend Alide's recipe for Caramel Easter Egg Brownies. They are a dryer-textured brownie elevated to great heights by caramel-filled Easter eggs being baked into them. Strangely, I couldn't get caramel-filled Easter eggs (AND I couldn't get a Lindt bunny anywhere, which I am still bitter about) so I used these Thornton caramel swirl jobbies, which looked like little exploding beach balls. They were very, very acceptable to the chocolate-eating hordes at work. Not my favourite brownie, but a good way of using up excess Easter eggs, if you have such a thing. You could also use mini creme eggs, if the thought of those fondant-filled snotballs doesn't appal you.

The brownies were still being digested when I made this chocolate biscuit cake. I don't know if you had seen the news that Prince William of Wales got married? There was so little coverage of it that you probably missed it. Anyway, Prince William requested a chocolate biscuit cake, apparently his favourite when he was a child. One of the volunteers at work told me she had never heard or tasted chocolate biscuit cake before, so I made one. Mine does not look like the one they had. Mine was not very successful, unfortunately. The flavours (I used ginger biscuits and added chopped apricots and extra crystallised ginger) were excellent, but there wasn't enough chocolate to biscuit to hold it all together. So that one needs revisiting. It certainly wasn't a patch on Mrs Stacey's refrigerator cake (old friend of my mother's) which I must make and blog about for posterity.

The next sweet treat came about because I had condensed milk leftover after making Dan Lepard's halva flapjacks.

My friend Jacki had hooked me up with this recipe - which she said was very reliable, egg-free and adaptable. I messed around with the recipe, of course, and produced a very delicious tender cookie with a wonderful flavour. If you do want to make these cookies please keep in mind that an Australian cup is 250ml, slightly larger than the American 8oz cup which can make a difference.

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies

80g butter, softened

100g chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup caster sugar

125ml condensed milk

1 egg

1tsp vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste - doesn't matter, as long as it is genuine vanilla and not synthetic flavouring)

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

250g choc chips (I used 150g milk chocolate and 100g 85% dark chocolate and chopped it into chunks)

Cream the butter, peanut butter and caster sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the condensed milk, egg and vanilla. Beat in the flour until thoroughly combined then fold in the chocolate.

Shape into balls with a pair of teaspoons and place, well spaced, on a baking sheet covered with baking paper.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 15 minutes until well risen and browned. Cool on the baking sheet before trying to move them. Makes 35-38.

Last but not least: vanilla milkshakes. I can't remember how the conversation started, but we were reminiscing about vanilla milkshakes and how neither of us had had one in years and years. So I made some. I suspect the last time I had one it wasn't made with organic milk, organic vanilla icecream and fair-trade vanilla.

They were very good. Very filling though - we had them for lunch. I can't believe I was ever able to have a milkshake as a drink alongside a burger or something.