How Easy Is It To Make Peanut Butter?

In blog land everyone else is making peanut butter!

And everyone says it's EASY!

And ya all know EASY is my friend...

so I decided to test the theory.

Off I went to Bin Inn bulk store...

purchased my roasted salted peanuts.

Got out my food processor, added my peanuts,

 pulsed and smashed those peanuts into little pieces.

One blogger said - it takes 5 minutes to make smooth peanut butter!

Well....

my food processor is so powerful - 

I am glad it has suction cups to stick it to the bench.

It literally takes off!

Yip - it is a BEAST!

And after 6 minutes at top speed I had smashed peanuts,

that did not quite resemble peanut butter.

Processed for another 2 minutes - hmmm no change.

So I am thinking - 

maybe we dry roast all the oil out of our peanuts in New Zealand.

USA you must have wonderful oily peanuts!

So in went two tablespoons of oil.

Another 3 minutes of full speed processing and I had an in between kind of crunchy and smooth peanut butter.

By this stage the noise of the 'BEAST' was doing my head in,

 so after a taste test, I decided it was good enough.

It took 11 minutes but I won the homemade peanut butter battle.
It is delicious.

When compared to a natural store bought peanut butter
that is available in New Zealand (in the same quantities), 
it's actually no cheaper to make at home.

But at least I can tick it off the list, and say I've done it.   

;) 

  

Caramel Chocolate Mousse Tart...

The test kitchen is creating quite a few tarts of late!

And this Caramel Chocolate Mousse combination is a keeper!

 The ingredients are convenient - a packet of vanilla biscuits, a pot of thickened cream, easy melt chocolate and a tin of ready to eat caramel.

 Once you have prepped your biscuit base and it is in the fridge. 

Whip up a chocolate mousse using a hand mixer to beat to fluffiness.

 Fold in the egg whites and gelatin and set aside while you...

 dollop delicious caramel onto the biscuit base.

Level the caramel layer with a spatula,

then top with the mousse.

Leave in the refrigerator for at least four hours.

 Decorate the top as desired.

I used a cake stencil and icing sugar.

 Slice into portions...

 And serve with a dribble of fresh cream.

The Caramel Chocolate Mousse Tart is a quick to make dessert for special occasions.

 It makes a large tart so will serve about 10 people.

To get the printable recipe visit HERE.

Caramel Mousse Tart

Grease a 25cm flan dish (with a removable bottom)

Base:

Finely crush 250-gram packet of vanilla biscuits.

Add 1 tablespoon dark cocoa and 120 grams melted butter.

Combine and press into the flan dish. Place in refrigerator to firm.

Mousse Topping:

Melt 225 grams dark chocolate melts. Beat in 2 egg yolks.

Then 300ml pot of thickened cream. Beat until well mixed.

Add two teaspoons of gelatin that has been dissolved in boiling water.

Mix again.

In another bowl beat the two egg whites until thick. Add two tablespoons caster sugar and beat again until the sugar has dissolved.

Using a metal spoon, fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Remove flan base from the refrigerator, and top with one tin of thick ready to eat caramel. Smooth with spatula.

Top the caramel with the chocolate mousse topping.

Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.

Serve with fresh cream.

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A 10 Minute Table Centrepiece...

To create a 'Ten Minute Table Centrepiece', 

take one interesting tray.

(To learn how to make a mosaic on ply tray visit HERE.)

Add some vases...

Some single blooms...

I used dahlias.

and some antique silverware.

This little set fitted perfectly in the far end of the tray.

 It is the latest addition to my silver collection.

It has white enamel inside...

 The embossing is simply gorgeous.

Very French.

And oh so dainty!

So for the first week the vases had Dahlias in them.

Because they are such beautiful flowers.

Even the buds are interesting to look at!

 Then in week two...

The flowers were changed.

 This is lisianthus.

One of my favourites and a wonderful long lasting cut flower.

I have never succeeded in growing these in the home garden, 

and I'd love to know if you have managed to grow them...

What's your secret?

The Autumn (Fall) Sideboard Display...

I decided to welcome in Autumn,

with a simple decor display on the chippy white sideboard.

It's simple, rustic and was easy to create.

But first I needed two paper leaves:
Print the leaf template HERE.
Cut it out.
Draw around the outline with  a pencil onto your paper of choice.

Cut it out.

Glue to a piece of wood.

 I teamed my wood leaf block with the fabric pumpkin...
You can find out how to make one HERE.

 I placed a some sun bleached deer antlers in a wire basket.

 And that was it!

 With lots of interesting colour...

  texture...

and patterns. 

Here's the recap on the Autumn Sideboard Display.
 I used:
 The deer fabric pumpkin
Some deer antlers.
A wire basket.
A piece of wood with the paper leaves glued onto it.

The antlers were placed in the basket.
The fabric pumpkin in front to the left.
And the wood with paper leaves to the right.

I'm loving that it's simplistic...
rustic...
and Autumnal cute!

Banoffee Icecream Tart.....

Now y'all know of my love of SIMPLE and EASY...

well, this dessert is outstandingly simple and easy to create.

Best yet I think!

The Banoffee Ice Cream Tart is a great summer season dessert.
Or a 'Cheer yourself up' treat when you hit the speed bumps in life!

All you do is:

Crush one 250-gram packet of plain biscuits in a food processor.

 Add 100 grams of melted butter.  Combine.

Press the crumb mixture into the base of a 25 cm high side flan dish with a removable bottom. 

(Spray a little cooking oil on it before putting the crumbs in.)

Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Leave your chosen ice cream to soften for a few minutes.

Place spoonfuls onto the biscuit base.
(I used a milk chocolate chip ice cream from the Cadbury range.)

I used about 3/4 a tub of ice cream to fill the flan.

Press into the flan and even out the top with a spatula so that it is level but you still have about half an inch from the filling to the flan dish top.

Freeze for two hours.

.

Just before serving:

Remove the tart from the freezer.

Leave for about four minutes to soften slightly for ease of removal from the tin.

Spread thick whipped cream over the ice cream layer.

Slice bananas and arrange over the top.

Drizzle with readymade or homemade caramel sauce topping.

Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds.

Pop out of flan. Slice and serve.

SIMPLE and EASY  - Banoffee Ice Cream Tart.

Dessert deliciousness that will have them raving,
and asking for MORE!

.

.

.

Instructions to copy and paste to print:

Banana Icecream Tart

Ingredients:

250-gram packet of plain biscuits

100 grams of melted butter

3/4 of a 2 Litre tub of ice cream

Thick whipped cream

3 sliced bananas

Ready-made caramel or salted caramel topping

70 grams of oven-dry roasted flaked almonds

Base:

Crush one 250-gram packet of plain biscuits in a food processor.

Add 100 grams of melted butter. Combine.

Press the crumb mixture into the base of a 25 cm high side flan dish with a removable bottom. 

(Spray a little cooking oil on it before putting the crumbs in.)

Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Leave your chosen ice cream to soften for a few minutes.

Filling:

Place spoonfuls of ice cream onto the biscuit base.

(I used a milk chocolate chip ice cream from the Cadbury range.)

I used about 3/4 a tub of ice cream to fill the flan.

Press into the flan and even out the top with a spatula so that it is level but you still have about half an inch from the filling to the flan dish top.

Freeze for two hours.

Topping:

Just before serving:

Remove tart from the freezer.

Leave about 4 minutes to soften slightly for ease of removal from the tin.

Spread thick whipped cream over the ice cream layer.

Slice bananas and arrange them over the top.

Drizzle with readymade or homemade caramel sauce topping.

Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds.

Pop-out of flan.

Slice and serve.

The printable recipe is HERE

Note: An ingredient conversion chart can be found HERE

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#banoffee #tart #dessert #bananas #caramel