PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOC CHIP BUNS

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

I only had one egg left when I went to make buns today, so I had to find a recipe that needed just one egg. I flicked through my books and found a Snickers and Peanut Butter Mufffins recipe in Nigella's Domestic Goddess. I don't keep Snickers bars about my person, but I always have dark choc chips to hand for baking, hence the change. I also halved Nigella's recipe, to make buns rather than muffins, but it only yielded nine buns. Anyway! Here we go:

I used my Orla Kiely bowl for the day that's in it

Peanut butter & choc chip buns

INGREDIENTS

125g plain flour

3 tablespoons caster sugar

3/4 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

3 tablespoons peanut butter

30g butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

90ml milk

50g dark choc chips

METHOD

·         Preheat oven to 200˚C

·         Line a 12-space bun tin (my mix made 9 buns)

·         Throw all the dry ingredients into a bowl, mix

·         Add the peanut butter and mix until you have a breadcrumby texture

·         Add the melted butter and egg to the milk and stir gently into the bowl

·         Mix in the chocolate chips

·         Plop the mixture into the bun cases using two spoons

·         Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden on top and firm to the (light) touch

·         Cool on a wire rack

FORGOT THE MARG!

 
Did you know that 'desserts' is 'stressed' spelt backwards? I found that out today. Which is appropriate because I forgot to put the marg into a batch of carrot buns - duh. I blame the three year old helper who continually distracts me and won't let me near the recipe or the bowl. Sigh.

On the plus side, they look OK but, I imagine, they will be a bit dry and crumbly. Luckily there are walnuts, sultanas and carrots in them, as well as milk and egg, so all may not be lost...

This is my first baking outing since last week's 'floor cake'. Yes, just as I was putting a fresh-from-the-oven cake onto the wire rack to cool, it fell onto the floor and smashed. I am not feeling the baking love. No, wait, I tell a lie. Sunday's Saint Patrick's Day buns turned out fine. Thank Patrick for that...

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY BUNS

The finished buns

Juno and Finn decorating

Ahead of St Patrick's Day tomorrow (Happy Paddy's Day!) we made some lovely buns. This recipe is adapted from one of Nigella's.

Ingredients

125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
125g marg, melted a little (softened)
½ tsp vanilla essence (I used one vial of my Lidl Belbake Butter & Vanilla flavouring)

2 eggs, beaten

1 tblsp cow's or soya milk

Topping

1 large bar dark choc, melted

2 tsps of icing sugar, to thicken

green and orange jelly beans

Method

Preheat oven to 200˚C
Line a 12-space bun tin (my mix made 16 buns)
Throw all the ingredients into a bowl, except the milk; beat well with a wooden spoon
Add the milk slowly and beat in gently
Plop the (quite runny) mixture into the bun cases using two spoons
Bake for 18 minutes or so, until golden on top
Cool on a wire rack
Break the choc into squares, put in a large bowl over a small pot of hot water
When the choc melts, add 2 teasponns of icing sugar and mix through
Splodge onto the buns with a spatula, stick on the jelly beans and, voilá, Irish buns!

VEGAN ST PATRICK'S DAY BISCUITS

Uniced vegan biscuits

Hello, all, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day. I decided to make biscuits for today's festivities and I veganised one of Rachel Allen's recipes from her lovely book Bake. It's easy peasy. This made 22 smallish biscuits.

Decorated vegan biscuits

Ingredients:
4oz vegan marg
2oz brown sugar
5oz plain flour
half tsp lemon essence (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C
Cream the marg, lemon essence and sugar with a mixer or by hand
Sift in the flour and mix to a soft dough
Roll walnut sized pieces of dough in your palms
Place them apart from each other on an ungreased baking tray
Flatten them a little with a fork dipped in water
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until golden
Remove from tray immediately and cool on a wire rack

Icing:
Mix 2 tsps of icing sugar with a little water.
Add more sugar and more water until the mixture is hard to mix
Palette onto the biscuits and decorate with green, white and orange jellies
Eat and have a happy Saint Patrick's Day!

SAINT PATRICK'S DAY VEGAN BUNS!

Finn decorating the buns



Citrusy tricolour buns for Paddy's Day


Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!!

And here are some festive buns to celebrate our national saint. At home we always called these buns, others called them fairy cakes or queen cakes, and nowadays they are called muffins or cupcakes. Whatever you choose to call them, they are a zesty treat and kids LOVE helping with the decorating, as you can see.

Makes 12 small buns.

Preheat oven to 180˚C

FOR THE BUNS
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 small orange, zested and juiced
250 gr (9oz) wholegrain spelt flour
50gr (2oz) light muscovado sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
150ml soya milk (or ordinary milk for non-vegans)
1 tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (non vegans can use one beaten egg)
2 tblsps vegetable oil
12 muffin or bun cases

FOR THE TRICOLOUR DECORATIONS
I used a mix-with-water Royal icing. Vegan versions available.
Greeen and orange jelly tots!! (Or any suitably festive sweeties...)

• Put cases into bun tray
• Zest the orange and lemon, then half them and squeeze them. Strain the juice and put to one side
• Mix the citrus zest, flour, spice, sugar and baking powder in a bowl
• Make up the NoEgg as per pack (or beat your egg)
• In a jug, mix together the soya milk, oil and NoEgg mixture
• Make a well in the flour and beat in the milky mixture
• Mix in the lemon and orange juice until combined
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Leave the buns to cool, then make up the icing (as per pack) and decorate. Leave to set for about half an hour (not in the fridge) and eat!