Peanut Butter and Choc Chip Blondies

Hi
This weekend  I had my first ever go at a Blondie. For sometime time now I  had been achying to bake something with Peanut Butter in it, so after some thinking I decided to make Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Blondie. I was really looking forward to what they would be like as I'd never tasted one before.
I found a really simple Rachel Allen recipe online and got on with the experiment.

I found this was easier to judge...i took it out when the edges had crisped up but the middle was soft...not wobbly just soft. I let it sit a while to firm up before i cut it....I wish my choc brownies cut this nice and neat! The Blondies definitely tasted better the longer they sat. The flavour seem to come to together better and you got a stronger taste of the Blondie part of it.... if that makes sense. They were dense..I  imagine this is down to the Peanut Butter in there. I didn't use as much sugar as the recipe recommended as I was scared of it being too sweet. I ended up drizzling some choc over the top which helped give you more of a chocolate hit as well as looking pretty of course.
I wished I'd put in more choc chips it was really nice when you bit in to one. The PB flavour is really strong...I wish I'd used smooth Peanut Butter...sometimes it was too chunky.The edges were nice and crisp with the slightly softer middle. At times it reminded me of  big chocolate chip cookie..the textures in the two were quite similar. I really quite liked this! It shan't be the last Blondie I make as I really like the texture and idea of a Blondie.
ps just saw Rachel has a Banoffee Blondie recipe!....my twin has put in a request for an Almond and Cherry one. Have you guys got any fav Blondies?

A Lush Apple and Caramel Cake

                           

 Dear Carnation Caramel,where o where have you been all my baking life?! I'm sorry I've never used you before..not sure what was wrong with me. From this day forth  I solemnly swear to bake with you lots.
Today's bake is a beautifully simple but seriously delicious cake, bringing together the lovely flavours of Apple and Caramel. The awesomeness of baking with caramel was only realized when I used it in my Salted Caramel Brownies,from then on I knew it was gonna be a baking staple in my cupboard. I adapted Jo Wheatley's Apple+Blackberry loaf recipe to make this delicious little treat.

Ingredients
Self-Raising Flour 170g
Sugar 130g
Butter 170g
Bramley Apples 2 peeled + chopped
Half a tin of Carnation caramel.
3 Eggs

This cake was an all in one method which was fab literally chucked everything in apart from the Apples and Caramel, mixed it until everything was combined. I cut up the Apples in to chunks then mixed them in some of the Caramel and gently folded that in to the cake mixture. I poured everything in to my lined square cake tin alternating cake mixture with the remaining caramel.Simple. It baked for about 40 mins I think... at Gas Mark 4.

This cake smelled amazing and tasted even better everyone loved it! It was beautifully moist and the Apples still had a bit of crunch to them. The Caramel added a delicious flavour to everything it was fab I was so happy with it. It tastes even better once its had time to cool and sat a while as the Caramel flavour gets stronger. The two flavours worked amazing well together and had a lovely familiar taste that we still can't place! It was like getting a big cake hug by the beautifully comforting flavors. Can't get over the Caramel flavour...... ..I miss it so much.....sniff sniff.

Spiced Orange Rolls

Hiya

So after making my Almond Cherry Couronne I've been bitten by the bread making bug and wanted to have ago at some rolls. I've been trying to use  my Jo wheatley Passion for Baking book more, so I was flicking through it looking at all the lovely pics...as i often do  when these Orange Spiced rolls caught my eye.

I started making these quite early in the day which is necessary because of the time which you need to dedicate to them proving twice. It was relatively straight forward and rather similar to the Couronne. I still think I need to work on my kneading methods but I think what I was doing got the job done. This time after the first proving the dough did double in size which didn't happen with the Couronne.Unfortunately for some reason this time,when I was rolling it out the dough was really tough and I struggled to get it the rectangle shape which was required. I'm not sure why it was so tough...should I have kneaded more to get it soft and stretchy before rolling it out?! I was quite thrown by this as it didn't happen the last time. Anyway I soldiered on and rolled it out sprinkled the Cinnamon, Demerara Sugar, Pecans, Orange zest and Mixed Spiced over the dough and started rolling up.

After I rolled and cut them up I had to leave it prove for a second time for 40 mins or until doubled in size. Then you can whack them in the oven. The smells coming from the oven where gorgeous! Beautifully Cinnamon + Citrusy scents, I left the kitchen door open so it could go all around the house! I was quite apprehensive about tasting these I was worried about the dough being so tough...it wasn't normal....and sadly I was proven right, these rolls were tough and chewy. They tasted of all the lovely flavours which were in them but they were so tough we had to dip them in our tea for 30 seconds to help soften them before eating them. Seriously.

I so disappointed about it...the whole process was going relatively well. I was wondering if any of you bread experts know why the dough ended up so tough? Please let me know, or any ideas of what can do to avoid it happening again I'm baffled. Maybe I under kneaded? Or maybe this recipe called for different ingredients so it was going to be different to the Couronne. Maybe rolls like these are meant to be a chewy?  I don’t know!! Some advice please for this bread novice.