Peanut Butter Granola Bars

It's halfway through your school or work day and you find yourself barely awake since you've probably not had as much sleep as you'd wished for the night before. This peanut butter granola bar is perfect for a pick me up snack, and since they contain oats, the energy will be slowly released throughout the rest of the day so that you don't come crashing down an hour after eating one.

Ingredients:

-180g rolled oats

-33g peanuts, chopped

-95g peanut butter

-85g honey

-dried fruit, seeds, nuts, choc chips etc. (optional)

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 4.

2) Combine the oats and peanuts.

3) Melt the honey and peanut butter and add to the mixture.

4) Throw in any optional extras of your choice. (I used dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips)

5) If, at this stage, the mix is too dry add in more melted honey or peanut butter. 

6) Put the granola bar concoction into a lined tray and bake for 25 minutes. 

7) These granola bars also work as none bake by putting them into the fridge for an hour. 

I hope you enjoyed this simple recipe, stay around for another blog post next Sunday! :) 

Becky x

Sugar and Spice Halloween Biscuits

Since this week is Halloween week, I thought I'd throw in an added bonus baking post for you all. Like my other Halloween post, I got the inspiration from Pinterest but added my own twist to it. These biscuits are easy for anyone to bake and make about 32 biscuits.

For the biscuits...

- 250g Plain Flour

- 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

- 1/4 tsp Ground Allspice

- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

- 125g Soft Brown Sugar

- 125g Butter

- 1 Beaten Egg

Method...

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. 

2)Sift the flour, spices, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. 

3) Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. 

4) Stir in the egg and then mix together with your hand to form a soft dough.

5) Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it's a few millimetres thick.

6) Using cutters of your choice, cut out as many shapes as possible from the dough. 

7) Re-knead and re-roll the dough trimmings to cut out more shapes.

8) Put the biscuits in the oven for 15-20 minutes until they're lightly browned. 

For the decoration you'll need...

- Icing Sugar

- Water

- Orange Food Colouring

- Black Food Colouring

Method...

1) Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add a teaspoon of water and begin to mix together. 

2) Keep adding water until the mixture turns 'gloopy'.

3) Make two other small bowls of icing sugar, but slightly thicker. 

4) To one of the thicker mixtures add orange colouring and black colouring to the other. 

5) Put the orange icing into a piping bag with a small hole and pipe around the edge of the biscuits. 

6) Fill in the inside of the orange outlines on the biscuits with some white icing, using a teaspoon.

7) Put the black icing into another piping bag with a small hole and write out Halloween words such as 'boo!' and 'eek!' onto the biscuits. 

I hope you enjoyed this bonus Halloween post, stay around for more in the future! :) 

Becky x

Spider Web Halloween Cupcakes

Since Halloween is only a few days away I thought it'd be appropriate to do a post inspired by the day. This recipe was inspired by a few different cake decorations and styles I saw on Pinterest which I combined together.  

For the cake you'll need...

- 175g Self Raising Flour

- 175g Sugar

- 175g Butter (at room temperature)

- 3 Eggs

- Orange Food Colouring

- Vanilla Extract or Orange Flavouring

- 25g Cocoa Powder

- Splash of Milk

For the topping you'll need...

- Chocolate

- 100g Butter

- 200g Icing Sugar

- Orange Food Colouring

- Vanilla Extract

Method

1) Melt the chocolate, put into an icing bag with a small hole in the end, and on top of a lined baking tray, draw out spider webs. Pop the spider webs into the fridge to set whilst you make the cakes. 

2) Preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Prepare the cake tins.

3) Beat together the butter and sugar in a bowl, then whisk the eggs and add to the mixture bit by bit.

4) Sift the flour and add to the wet mixture. 

5) Split the mixture between two bowls. 

6) Add orange food colouring and vanilla extract to one bowl and combine. 

7) Sift the cocoa powder into the other bowl and add a splash of milk (about 1-2 tbsp) and combine.

8) Share the orange cake mixture between the cake cases so that they're all about 1/3 full. 

9) Fill up the remaining 1/3 of each case with the chocolate mixture.

10) Place in the oven for about 12-15 minutes until they ounce back when you press them with your ring finger, or when a toothpick is put into one and it comes out clean. 

11) Remove the cupcakes from the baking tray and allow to cool down on a cooling rack. 

12) Once they've cooled down, begin to make the frosting by whipping together the butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and orange food colouring.

14) Put the frosting into a piping bag and decorate the cakes however you'd like.

15) I finished mine off by getting the chocolate webs I made earlier and popped them into the top of the frosting. 

I filled mine a bit too full here, so I'd recommend putting less into the cases. 

I hope you enjoyed this Halloween post, stay around for more in the future! :) 

Becky x