REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE

I am sure I have mentioned before that I am a HUGE Reese's peanut butter cup fan. In fact my greatest food find of this year is the Reese's chocolate peanut butter spread....it has revolutionised our weekend breakfasts as the whole family loves it. In fact I rarely had breakfast before.....now I can't get enough....which is really not good for my figure especially as I have it with both baguette and butter! 

Anyway my daughter Bella and I made a board on Pinterest last week dedicated just to Reese's and this is one of the recipes we came across. It was very easy to make, it took about 15-20 minutes and then needed to be chilled in the fridge overnight. 

Ingredients for 25 squares:

397g tin condensed milk
300g white chocolate
200g peanut butter
25g butter (can be salted or unsalted)
100g icing sugar, sifted
Around 200g mini Reese's peanut butter cups
Around 150g Reese's Pieces (You can add more or less if you want)

Line a tin/dish with baking paper. The recipe recommends one that is 9 x 9" however mine was 10 x 7". I don't think size really matters (this time!), just use what you have. 

In a heavy based saucepan, mix in the white chocolate, peanut butter, butter and condensed milk. Melt on a very low heat so the chocolate doesn't get stuck on the bottom and burn, and that all the ingredients combine together. It might take a while but it is important to do it over a low heat. Mine took around 10 minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl.

Sift the icing sugar and beat well. I just used a spoon rather than an electric mixer. Once completely combined, add in most of the peanut butter cups and Reese's pieces and fold. Keep some left over to sprinkle on top.

Pour into the baking tin and smooth over the mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the Reese's and press in. Put in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours but ideally overnight.

We did try the fudge after a few hours in the fridge and it was good but it was much better after it had set overnight. Once set, cut into squares and enjoy. Our squares were obviously very large!!

I love Reese's and I love fudge so this combination was the dream!! My only alteration I would make next time is I would probably add some big Reese's peanut butter cups too....in my opinion you can never have enough. I also added some of this fudge to my bowl of ice cream last night which I highly recommend if you are a little piggy like me!!

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CHORIZO & ROSEMARY RISOTTO

Risotto has always been one of my favourite recipes, although I rarely have it in a restaurant unless it is a very smart one, as it is easy to get wrong. Before I learnt to cook, my sister would very kindly make me risottos of all different combinations depending on what was in the fridge. My favourite would always be mushroom, bacon and lots of cheese however as my daughter Arabella is mushroom-phobic, we rarely have them. 

Last week I found this recipe in the Sunday Times magazine however it used pumpkin rather than butternut squash. I couldn't find pumpkin in the shops so I substituted it for squash and it worked very well. Risottos are simple but time confusing and this took about 40 minutes.

Ingredients for 4 people:

450g pumpkin or squash, skinned, deseeded and cut into small pieces

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

50g butter

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

300ml dry white wine

300g risotto rice

200g chorizo, finely chopped

2 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped

1 litre hot stock

100g Parmesan, grated

Chop all the ingredients in preparation and make up the stock.

Bring a large pan of boiling water to the boil, add the pumpkin / squash and cook for around 6 minutes until it begins to soften. I did about 7 minutes. I forgot to cut my pieces so just did it after they were cooked.

In a large non stick frying pan over a medium heat, fry the celery and the onion in the olive oil and half the butter until it begins to soften. This took about 5 minutes. Next add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the rice and stir until it becomes opaque (a couple of minutes). Add the wine and cook for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

Add the chorizo and cook for a couple of minutes, then add the pumpkin / squash and stir in half of the rosemary leaves.

Now for the time consuming part! Add the stock one ladle at a time, stirring constantly to give a creamy texture for about 15 minutes. This is good exercise for your arm! 

Season with salt and pepper, add the remaining rosemary and butter and about half the Parmesan. Cover and rest until creamy - we were all starving so only waited a few minutes! Serve with the remaining Parmesan and tuck in.

The combination of the rosemary, squash and chorizo is powerful but it works very well. It is a perfect meal for this autumnal weather that is starting to appear. My husband, daughter and I all loved this and will be fighting over the leftovers. I am definitely keen to try this again with pumpkin - I reckon around Halloween will be the perfect time when we are trying to decide what to do with all the leftover pumpkin!!

CHICKEN, BACON & CHEESE ROLLS

These school holidays I have found all the cooking so tiresome and I am constantly trying to decide what to serve for both lunch and dinner, stay healthy (ish) and have some variety in our diet. It is not easy. 

When I was growing up, my father did most of the cooking for the family. My mother loved food (she used to drive us mad with her menu reading - a trait I have now inherited) but she had no confidence in cooking. Despite this, she LOVED to do cooking classes. I have kept some of her recipes and I know she will be so happy that I am cooking them......as she never did!! I decided to try this simple chicken dish of her's that took around 35 minutes.

Ingredients for 2 people:

6 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless (I only had 5)
3 tbsp wholegrain mustard
Around 90g of Gruyere or Cheddar cheese
6 slices of smoked streaky bacon
Wooden cocktail sticks

To serve:
Garlic Mayonnaise
(You can just buy this but I made it myself with):
100ml mayonnaise
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
10g spring onions, finely chopped 

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Unroll each chicken thigh and cut away all the nasties. I love chicken thighs, I much prefer them to the breast, but I hate this part of preparing them!

Spread about a teaspoon of mustard on to each thigh.

Cut the cheese into fat matchsticks of around 15g each and place one in the middle of each thigh. Then roll up the chicken.

Wrap each chicken thigh with a rash of bacon and secure with a couple of cocktail sticks. Put the chicken rolls in a baking tray (I lined the tray with foil) in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Cut into the chicken to check it is cooked before serving.

While the chicken was cooking I made the garlic mayonnaise and I basically just copied a random recipe from the Internet. However I had to change the measurements as otherwise I was making a week's supply of mayo!! it was very simple to make, I just mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl and voila!

Despite all the cheese melting out of our chicken rolls, I scooped it all up with a spoon (waste not want not) and these worked perfectly. I love how tender chicken thighs are and I am a big fan of the cheese and bacon combo. These worked perfectly with a green salad for me and cucumber and sweetcorn for my daughter. Another easy recipe to add to the list. These can also be made up previously and frozen until needed. Just defrost fully before you cook. Perfect for the busy school afternoons that are soon to be upon us.

PIZOOKIE (A PIZZA SIZE COOKIE)

A couple of months ago I went to a fantastic restaurant on the Chelsea / Fulham border called Megan's and I had the most amazing pudding. It was basically a warm giant cookie with Nutella in the middle served with vanilla ice cream. The waiter tried to suggest it might be too much for just me but of course being such a piglet, I managed to finish the whole lot off and I have been dreaming about it ever since. Megan's isn't very pram friendly so I decided the quickest way I can have this pudding again is to make it myself.

This recipe is from Waitrose magazine and it took about 45 minutes to make. You need to leave it to cool for at least 10 minutes at the end.

Ingredients for 8-10 slices

125g salted butter, at room temperature
150g light soft brown sugar
100g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
250g milk chocolate, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 4.

Put the butter and sugars in a bowl and using electric beaters, beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.

Then beat the eggs in one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Tip into the butter mixture, beat until just combined and then stir through the chocolate chunks.

Spoon into a 20cm ovenproof frying pan or similar size cake tin. I used a 23cm cake tin which I sprayed with cooking spray and then lined with baking paper so it was easy to remove.

Bake in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes until golden, (25 minutes yields a molten centre whereas 30 minutes will be slightly more set).

Cool for 10 minutes at least and then serve with a big dollop of ice cream if you like.

There are no words to describe how absolutely scrumptious this is.....it is so good I have made it twice this week! This pizookie is very easy to make and it tastes heavenly. Mine was incredibly soft, warm and gooey and it went perfectly with the ice cream. One word of warning, it is not good for the bikini body!!! If you manage to resist eating it all in one go, it will keep for a few days.