Peanut Butter and Nutella Cupcake Brownies.

How would I describe it? It was guilty pleasure in a cup. Yeah, that’s exactly what it was. I was craving nutella after a whole year, and I had to make something out of it. So I checked out several recipes, and as usual, combined and modified them. This was a successful experiment. Although, I should admit (and so did my friend, who lick-washed the empty batter bowl!) that the batter itself was much yummier  than the baked cupcakes. Yeah, batter was better. Haha. By the end of this post, you can see why I mentioned the word ‘guilty’. I HAD to go to an intense gym session the next day. Haha.

Ingredients (makes 17-18 cupcake brownies):

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter (melted)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract/essence
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup coco powder
• 3/4 cup nutella
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp peanut butter (scoops full)
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180ºC. Line a muffin tray with cupcake paper cases.
2. Combine the butter and sugar until mixed well. You could use an electric hand mixer or a cake beater for this recipe, which would give better results. I don’t have either, so I just used a fork.
3. Add the eggs and whisk well.
4. Stir in the flour, vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
5. Pour in the nutella. After a good whisk, add the coco powder, and mix well.
6. Finally, swirl in the peanut butter in to the mixture.
7. Divide the batter among the prepared cups. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts over each cupcake.
8. Bake the cupcakes for 25 minutes. You might find them a bit undone when you take them out of the oven, and that’s fine. Let them cool down for about 10-15 minutes, and they will settle.

And that’s it! Cupcakes are ready to be served. We had some Chai tea (Twinings brand) in our little tea party 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions!

Until next time,

M.

Peanut Butter Sandwiched Cinnamon French Toast.

Welcome to my new food blog. Ever since I’ve moved to Australia, I have been experimenting a few recipes, and thought it’s finally time I shared my experience.

I’d like to start it off with my latest experiment. I was searching for some inspiration for a home made brunch on a Sunday morning, and found a couple of interesting recipes, which I wanted to try out. And then thought, why not combine them all and make one! So here is something I came up with. I’m glad I decided to make it. I loved every bit of it, and so did my friend.

Here’s what you will need (two servings):

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp condensed milk (if you have a sweet tooth)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• Peanut butter
  
• Six slices of bread (I used pumpkin seed)
• Butter to grease the pan
  
• A handful of almonds, banana slices and maple syrup to serve

Method:

1. Mix the first four ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
2. Spread peanut butter on three bread slices and sandwich them with the rest to make three peanut butter sandwiches. Cut each into two,  
3. diagonally.
4. Pour the egg mixture on the sandwiches to coat them well.
5. Grease a frying pan with butter on low heat. Be careful not to keep the heat too high, or else the butter would burn quite quickly and you’ll end up with black patched french toasts! Believe me, you do not want that.
6. Transfer each sandwich to the pan, and cook them until golden brown on either side.
7. Arrange the french toasts on a plate. Add the almonds and banana slices to the plate, and dash some maple syrup over them.

VOILA!

A brunch is never complete without tea. I had some rose and french vanilla tea with this beautiful dish.
Hope you enjoyed this recipe, and let me know how you go after trying it!

Until next time, M.