4-INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS: egg-free, vegan opt, great for a crowd

Fabulous way both to end Lent and reward political volunteers...

Crunchy, crumbly, chocolate-y treat: delicious memorable mouthful
'Astonishingly good!' 

67 was going to hold this recipe back until it could be fine tuned but Easter and the election are coming up fast.

Families want something chocolatey to celebrate the end of lent; political associations are looking for tasty treats for volunteers.  

The Chocolate Peanut Butter Biscuit combo tastes absolutely incredible as it is.  But in their current state, they are crumbly.

Hence, they need to be served in small cupcake liners.  Maybe with a portable spoon! 

But the recipe is being posted now with its flawed methodology  - though definitely not flawed taste - and will be updated later.  

The bars are very rich; if you can find foil-lined cupcake liners instead of paper ones, they'll look prettier.  

The bars will definitely go down well with North American kidults, peanut butter being embedded in their DNA, but it's pretty certain these will also be popular with sweet-loving Brits, too.  

There are a few simple steps but the bars are easy to put together; probably by older kids.  Little ones can contribute by helping bash the biscuits to a rubble; if dexterous enough and you're trying the peanut butter'n jam version below, they can help there.

By the way, the ultra nutty peanut butter*** in 67's cupboard provided exceptional taste and texture. 

Cost: £5'ish

Makes: depending on size - between 30-50

Ingreds:

200g/7oz dairy or plant butter

minimum 300g/10.5oz Digestive biscuits (graham crackers across the pond) own brand are fine, plus extra standing by

360g/12.6oz chunky peanut butter (smooth will do but add a few chopped peanuts for textural contrast)

200g/7.5oz dark chocolate (or for kids, milk chocolate) from a bar, or chocolate chips

Method:

(2-stages; first stage stops at step 8) 

CHERRY CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE, quick & easy crowd-pleaser, no-icing sugar, butter & baking chocolate

There is nothing like an American 'sheet' cake for a crowd...

Chocolate Sheet Cake studded with fresh cherries with cocoa not chocolate 
(for amateur gardeners in a strenuous Sunday session) 

67 loves the idea of American sheet cakes which are as it says on the tin: cake baked in a large flat tray to feed a crowd.  The look of the cake is so tidy and neat.  Usually served in squares or rectangles, the cake is thinner and flatter than usual.  Taste isn't affected but somehow the eating of it is different, more pleasurable.

Americans tend to use special recipes for sheet cakes and they are rich, moist and dense.  But translating American measurements to Imperial (UK) is not easy and many an unsuspecting baker has come a cropper.  67 instead turns to reliable standards from its recipe box.

In this one, 67 used a favourite one-bowl 8x8inch/20x20 cm chocolate cake, multiplied the ingredients by 1.5 and baked it in a 11x9in/28cmx23cm tin.  The tin was - strictly speaking - not really large enough for the amount of batter; 67 has now located a 12x13inch/31x33cm tin which should produce the requisite sheet cake thinness.

Even so, the more-than-a-sheetcake was moist, delicate and fine-crumbed with a mellow dark chocolate overtone -- rather special.  And the cherries soaked in (optional) brandy were gorgeous! 

67goingon50's recipe is healthier than most -- it has no butter.  It is also ideal when stores of baking chocolate are getting low but the cupboard has cocoa in abundance.  

The recipe is adapted from the late Michael Barry, the head of London's first commercial radio station.

Cost: £3.00'ish plus cost of topping (4/2024)
Feeds:16-20

Ingred:

   225gm/7.9oz self raising flour (plain flour, add 2 tsp baking powder)
   6 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
   1.5 baking powder
   1.5 tsp baking soda

   165gm/5.8oz sugar
   225 ml sunflower oil
   225 ml mill
   1 tsp vanilla
   3 large or 4.5 small eggs

  couple of handfuls fresh cherries, pitted and halved

  brandy

Gilding the sheet cake lily with
double cream and extra chocolate topping  

No-Icing-Sugar Chocolate Topping (opt - requires baking chocolate)

75gm/2.6oz 70% baking chocolate
85 ml milk or cream (if no cholesterol worries)

 
Garnish: couple of handfuls fresh cherries, coarsely chopped, soaked in brandy for 2 hours and drained OR baking cherries blanched in boiling water  OR sprinkles 

  

Method:

CAKE

1. Preheat oven to 160C/325F
2. Line a 13x9in/33cmx23cm (or 12x13inch/31x33cm) tin with greaseproof paper 
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder & soda into a large bowl; hand whisk till blended
4. Add sugar, then milk, oil, eggs & vanilla.  
5. Using electric beaters or a wooden spoon beat until smooth, dark brown and creamy. 
6. Bake 15 min; reduce heat to 150C/300F.  Cook another 15-20 mins but 10 mins before the end, insert a skewer in the centre; if it comes out clean, it's done.   
7. Cool 15 mins in tin; transfer to cooling rack 
8. When completely cool: drizzle over No Icing Sugar Icing and add fruit, if using

No Icing Sugar Icing (requires baking chocolate) 

1. Melt chocolate in a bowl over but not touching simmering water
2. Off the heat, add milk or cream; blend well.
3. Dribble over the cake 
4. Scatter over drained cherries
5. Use leftovers as a sauce, on the side, or for another occasion
6. Garnish, if liked

Comments:

'Absolutely lovely; you could sell this! And yes I could taste the cherry brandy!'  Retired 86 year old priest

'I love this because it's not over-sweet and the chocolate has a lovely mellowness'  Retiree

Please leave a Comment in the box below

This recipe  & advice has been developed by B  Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  They may not be reproduced, in any form, without the author's written permission.

SKINNIER CARROT & CASHEW DIP, vegetarian, wallet friendly, easy, small households

If you didn't try this ambrosial dish during the Christmas season, try it now; you will be stunned...

original post 2019; updated 3/25

Skinnier Carrot, Cashew & Date Spread with Potato Foccacia 

Middle Eastern Cookbook author Bethany Kehdy's original recipe for Carrot & Cashew Moutabel - a dip with tahini but no chickpeas -  was a surprise for the blogger. 

I first had it many years ago in America and then forgot about it.  

Rediscovering the recipe was a delight because the dip is extraordinary: slightly sweet, crunchy, incredibly more-ish and with unique mind-boggling flavours.  It's also vegetarian with a vegan option, fairly wallet-friendly and easy to prepare -- godsends at this time of year.

8

But it is extremely rich, with masses of butter.

67goingon50 adapted the recipe to cut cholesterol and to make it a 'less than a meal, more than a snack' dish for a small household.

Cost: £'3ish (3/2025)
Serves: 2 with bread and/or vegetable crudités or more as an appetiser

Ingreds:

Base    
    250gm/9 oz carrots, pref organic, roughly chopped
    
    1/4 tsp caraway seeds
    1.5 tablespoons tahini
    juice & zest of half a lemon
    

Topping
    min 15gr - max 25gm(min 1/2oz-max scant oz) dairy or vegan butter or coconut oil
    22.5gm/3/4oz unsalted cashews
    30gm/generous 1oz finely chopped best dates*
    good pinch cinnamon
    1 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut

Serve with: pitta or flatbread, raw veg like peppers, cauliflower, celery

Method: