Homemade Snickers bars

Honestly, these really are as good as they look. I had to hide them from Mr Rice. He found them in the end.

I first came across the recipe for these beauties on Pinterest and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Just the thought of tucking into one got me planning the time to make them. Then I started going on about them at work, and everyone kept asking me when I was going to get on with it.

A beautiful, sunny spring afternoon. Both kids asleep. Time to get down to business…

Recipe for Homemade Snicker bars

Ok, this takes a little while, but there’s lots of rest time between each layer. Just give yourself a couple of hours. They are definitely worth the wait.

To prepare, line a 9 x 12 inch cake tin with foil-lined parchment. If you can’t get the foil-lined stuff, normal parchment will do.

Bottom chocolate layer
400g milk chocolate
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

Melt the chocolate, either using a Bain Marie or in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time so it doesn’t burn. Then stir in the peanut butter until it’s all completely melted and blended together. Pour this mixture into the tin and put it in the fridge to set completely. This should take about 30 minutes. While it’s setting, get all your ingredients ready for all the other layers. Then make the peanutty-nougat layer.

Peanutty-nougat layer
100g butter
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g marshmallows
4 tbsp evaporated milk
200g salted peanuts

First, crush the peanuts in a pestle and mortar or put them in a sealed plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin, or chop them with a sharp knife. Do this as much or as little as you like, whether you want big peanut chunks or little bits.

Melt the butter and sugar gently in a pan until the sugar is dissolved, then add the evaporated milk and vanilla extract. When it’s all blended and smooth, take it off the heat and stir in the marshmallows until they’re completely melted.

Finally, stir in the peanuts. Leave it to cool for five minutes and them pour it over the chocolate layer. Make sure you spread it out as quickly as you can, so it doesn’t start to melt the chocolate layer underneath. Put it back into the fridge for another half hour. You can chill for 20 minutes too.

Caramel layer
2 bags of hard toffees
4 tbsp evaporated milk

In a cold, unheated pan, gently melt all the toffees with the milk and stir constantly until it’s all smooth. Once it’s melted you need to add it straight to the tin, so don’t start making it until the peanut layer’s set.  When you add it to the tin, spread it out as quickly and carefully as you can, so the layers don’t melt into each other. Leave this to set for 30 minutes.

Top chocolate layer
400g milk chocolate
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter

Just the same as the bottom layer. Melt the chocolate, either using a Bain Marie or in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time so it doesn’t burn. Then stir in the peanut butter until it’s all completely melted and blended together. Pour this mixture into the tin and put it in the fridge to set completely.

Done!

Leave it to set fully for at least an hour.

Then you’ll have a pretty impressive –looking slab like this:

It’s really rich and sweet. So cut small pieces! Get a long sharp knife and cut across the whole slab. The more you chop it from above, the more likely it is to get squashed, making everything squidge out. So turn the long slice on its side and chop it into individual pieces. Put your Snickers bars straight back into the fridge once you’ve cut them, as they start getting soft and melty pretty quickly. If you’re a real chocolate-lover, then you’ll want your chocolate soft and room-temperature, so get them out of the fridge at least half an hour before you’re planning to eat them.

Then see how long it really is until you start tucking in…

© Katheryn Rice 2012

Just Cupcakes

Check these babies out:

Cupcakes

So cupcakes are getting a bit trendy these days. So I thought I’d shamelessly jump on the bandwagon and make some of my own. When it comes to cupcakes it probably goes without saying that you have to forego any concerns about fat or sugar content and just get on with using the best ingredients to get the best results. 

As you can see from the photo, icing is really what makes the cupcake, so I thought I’d go to town, and it was a nice way to pass the time as Mr Rice nursed his monumental hangover.

Recipe for Vanilla Cupcakes
125g unsalted butter (room temperature)
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g self raising flour
25g plain flour
3 tbsps skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Butter cream
150g unsalted butter (room temperature)
300g caster sugar 

Preheat the oven to 200ºC and put 16 bun cases into a muffin or bun tin. Then beat the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a food mixer until well combined, followed by the sifted flour and beat again until it’s all smooth. Then add the milk 1 tbsp at a time, with the mixer on, until the mixture is soft but not runny.

Get two teaspoons and get a heaped spoonful of the mixture on one, and carefully push it off the spoon and into the bun cases with the other until all the bun cases are equally filled. Make sure they are no more than half full or they will overflow when they cook.

Cook the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes until the tops are golden brown and then let them cool fully on a wire cooling tray before you ice them.

I used good old butter cream to ice my cupcakes. It has a lovely, luxurious, velvety texture and is solid enough to cover any uneven tops on your cupcakes. Flatter tops are also the reason I’ve used 25g plain flour, so they don’t rise up too high.

To make the butter cream, just beat together the butter and the icing sugar until nice and smooth. Then you can smooth it or pipe it onto the cupcakes however you like, and of course you can add a little colour and other accoutrements too to give them the perfect finish!

I also discovered that these cupcakes were a good cure for Mr Rice’s hangover. 

PS
Special thanks to Mr Lawrence for telling me to get on with blogging – I’ll make you some cupcakes v soon!

© Katheryn Rice 2008

Potato and Kale Soup

Another interesting vegetable came from Abel & Cole this week: Kale.

Soup’s a real comfort on a cold day, and making on a chilly afternoon is soothing and satisfying. I’ve made potato and leek soup many times, so what’s to stop it working with kale?

Mr Rice can be a little suspicious of my vegetable soups, but he loved this one as much as me, and I think it’s the best soup I’ve made.

Recipe for Potato and Kale Soup
3 medium potatoes
300g kale
1 stick of celery
½ onion
500 ml vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp creme fraiche
1 pint of milk

Heat a dash of olive oil and a knob of butter in a large pan, then finely chop the onion and add to the pan, cooking until the onions are turning translucent, then finely chop the garlic and cook with the onions for a few minutes. Chop the celery into thin slices and add to the pan, and cook for another five minutes. Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes (peeling is optional) and cut into 5mm slices, then add these to the pan, stir it all together, then cover and cook for ten minutes.

Roughly chop the kale and add this and the bay leaf to the rest of the ingredients. Give it a good stir, then cover for five minutes, then add the stock, bring to the boil, and cover and cook for 40 minutes.

Once everything has softened, remove the bay leaf, add the creme fraiche and half the milk and stir roughly, to begin breaking everything up. Next, you have to blend it all together, so remove the pan from the heat. I use a hand blender and gradually work my way round the pan until it is all liquidised and smooth. You can also transfer it into a blender in batches and then back into the pan, but this takes a little bit longer.

Once you’re happy with the texture, return the soup to the heat, and stir in the rest of the milk until you get a thickness you are happy with. If you want a thinner soup, or want to make it go further, add more milk. Just keep tasting it to make sure you don’t dilute the flavour too much.

Tips

• The butter and creme fraiche are both optional, but help to give the soup its rich taste
• Leeks and cabbage can be substituted for the kale. Add the leeks after the onions, or the cabbage at the same time as the kale.
• Skimmed, semi-skimmed or full fat milk can be used
• Grate some cheese onto the soup when you serve it for extra richness

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Beautiful brunch to rouse Mr Rice

Mr Rice is a delicate soul, and it can be a bit of a mission to bring him back to life after a hard night’s partying. Having exhausted all my usual methods, I decide to kill two birds with one stone, and make both of us a delicious brunch. As I put it together, the smells worked their way through to Mr Rice, and in the ten minutes it took me together, the brave little soldier and his duvet made it all the way from the bed to the sofa.

Brunch chez Rice
2 brown organic muffins
smoked bacon
sausages
cherry tomatoes
2 poached eggs
cream cheese
maple syrup

First, slice the sausages open lengthways, leaving one side intact, then put under a medium grill with the bacon. While the meat’s cooking, boil the kettle and cook the muffins in the toaster. Fill a large, deep frying pan with the boiled water and bring back to the boil. Add a slug of vinegar and then swirl the water round in the pan until it’s moving pretty quickly by itself, then crack the eggs into it, one at a time. The swirling water and the vinegar help the egg to keep its shape. As the eggs are poaching, put the tomatoes under the grill with the meat, and smother the toasted muffins in generous helpings of the cream cheese. The egg should be done with a soft yolk after about 7 minutes.

Remove the eggs and place carefully on top of the muffin. Top this with the bacon, and add the tomatoes and the sausage on the side. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and drench in maple syrup if you feel like it.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Rice pudding for Mr Rice

Look at that chewy, caramelised skin – beautiful!

Excess milk in the fridge is the only excuse you need to make rice pudding. This is one of my top comfort foods, and it turns out Mr Rice likes it too. Like blackberry and apple crumble, every mouthful evokes childhood memories of cosy winter evenings tucking into warm pudding after a hard day’s leaf kicking or snowballing, wrapped up in coat, hat, gloves and wellies.

The key is to make it rich with creme fraiche, butter and brown sugar, and stir it at least three times during cooking.

Recipe for Rice pudding
65g pudding rice
5 knobs of butter
25g brown sugar
1 pint of milk
3 tbsps creme fraiche
grated nutmeg

Grease a pie dish, then whisk the creme fraiche with the milk until smooth and pour into the dish, followed by the rice, sugar and nutmeg. Stir carefully until it is well mixed. Then dot the knobs of butter on the top and cook at 150C for 2 hours. Stir every 20 minute for the first 80 minutes, then leave to cook so the caramelised skin can form.

Serve on its own or with a blob of strawberry jam.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Warm chocolate brownie with white chocolate sauce, Accra Beach, Barbados

I can’t think of a better way to soothe a hangover than to lie on a boiling hot beach, staring at the blue sky and turquoise sea, and tuck into a warm chocolate brownie with white chocolate sauce and cream on the side. YUM.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Frozen Pina Coladas at Mr X’s Shiggidy Shack, St Kitts

The name alone should entice you into this lively restaurant and bar in Frigate Bay, St Kitts. Mr Rice is watching the Cricket World Cup with his camera, and he insisted that I join him. And big thanks to my boss, who let me off work at a week’s notice – thanks Louise!

St Kitts is really so beautiful, mountainy and hot. The beaches are sandy, the sea is blue and it is laid back, man! On my first day here our hangovers allowed us to amble down the road from the Sugar Bay Club just after midday for a refreshing drink and a filling brunch. Ok, so it’s not fresh Mango Daiquiries at the Oberoi, but a frozen cocktail really hits the spot when you are hungover and hot. Then fill up with some jerk chicken or spare ribs and look at Caribbean Sea as the Pina Colada kicks in. Finish with a frozen Mango Daiquiri and soak up the atmosphere.

Mr X’s Shiggidy Shack comes to life at night, with reggae to blast your ear drums, lots of people partying and lashings of tasty rum. In the evening all the meals come with rice and corn, and you can push the boat out with a very reasonably priced lobster.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

My best ever Healthy Chocolate Brownies

This my favourite and best ever recipe. These brownies are so easy to make, and you can experiment as much as you like until you get the brownies that are right for you!

I have found the following combination of ingredients to be the most tasty, and not as heavy on the fat, sugar and unrefined flour as other recipes out there. They are moist without being soggy, chocolatey without being cakey and sweet without being sickly.

Recipe for Kat’s lower GL chocolate brownies
100g Pecan nuts, chopped or crushed with a pestle and mortar
50g Dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
110g Butter
2 large eggs
75g golden caster sugar (can be substituted for 75g Fructose)
75g soft brown sugar
75g demerara sugar
25g ground almonds
25g wholemeal plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass bowl over a pan of hot water (a bain marie). Make sure the bottom of the bowl stays out of the water, so the chocolate doesn’t burn. Stir it together until it is all blended, then simply add all the other ingredients and stir again until completely mixed.

Then simply pour the mixture into a greased and lined baking tin and cook at 180 degrees for 25-30 minutes. When it’s cooked it will be springy to the touch, but remember that the skewer test does not apply here, as you want the end result to be sticky and moist, not clean and dry like a cake. They will be crispy on top and gooey inside. Let the brownies cool a bit in the tin, then cut into pieces – as small or big as you like.

Sugar combinations
If you want to keep it simple you can use 225g golden caster sugar or fructose. But the combination I have used here does the following:
Golden caster sugar – simple sugar to make it sweet
Demerera sugar – Adds to the crunchy topping
Soft brown sugar – gives the brownies a toffeeness
Fructose – For super-healthy (!) brownies, use this natural sugar, which has a far lower GL and has less effect on your blood sugar levels

Flour and ground almonds
I have used a combination of both, to up the protein and keep the carbohydrates and wheat down. You can use 50g of flour if you like, or if you are allergic to wheat you can use 50g of ground almonds, but they won’t raise as much.

© Katheryn Rice 2007

Tuna sweetcorn baked potato

When I’m feeling hungry and monged, I’d rather make the least effort possible without resorting to something rotten and processed

How fortuitious for me on Sunday afternoon then, that Mr Rice had cleverly prepared a baked potato the previous week and put it in the freezer. Granted, I had taken it out to defrost before I left the house for my night of fun in Shepherds Bush. How happy was I when I re-entered the kitchen in slow motion, thirsty and hungry, looking for salvation. And there was my potato.

I managed to gather together the potato, a can of sweetcorn (another stroke of Mr Rice genius), a tin of tuna and my precious French mayonnaise. After putting the potato in the oven to warm and crisp up, I pulled a bowl from the cupboard and the tin opener from the drawer and managed to cobble together a rather rich, sweet tasting tuna sweetcorn concoction. Heavenly on a day like this!

Resisting the hungover urge to just leave the poor potato in the oven and take my concoction still in its bowl onto the sofa and lie there slowly spooning it into my mouth, I spurred myself on to prepare the meal I had in mind. What better comfort food is there than a hot buttery potato smothered with your favourite topping and melted cheese?

I did put the whole thing in the microwave at the end. But it was only to melt the cheese!

Preparing basics and freezing them away pays dividends on a day like this.

©2007 Katheryn Rice