More Gifts From the Kitchen

Nigella's Peanut Butter Cups

Caramel Crackers

Rocky Road

Vanilla Shortbread

Not a very good photo of the packed goods

I thought I should get these posted as time is marching on very quickly and if I don't do it now, I will totally forget about them. I made this selection of treats for our lovely neighbours. I think it's much nicer and thoughtful to give something you have made instead of buying something they may or may not ever use. We are lucky enough that the few bad elements in our neighbourhood are far outweighed by the good. Therefore at Christmas time I like to acknowledge that and take over some treats to have with a cup of tea or coffee. This year I made these Peanut Butter Cups from Nigella's Christmas book. They are very easy and are basically a mix made up of 220g smooth peanut butter, 200g icing sugar, 50g brown sugar and 50g soft butter. This is all mixed up, pressed into the bottom of small cupcake holders (the only ones I had were colourful ones so they didn't look as tasteful as they could have), and melted chocolate (a mix of milk and dark), poured on top. I also put some gold edible glitter on mine and even though the photos don't show it, they looked very pretty and sparkly. They also tasted delicious especially if you love that American treat the Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. 


The Rocky Road which was based on a recipe I saw on the Trade Me message boards. Rocky Road is one of those things that can be made with whatever you have on hand and with what you think might taste good. This one had marshmallow, fruit jubes and toasted nuts. The shortbread was a yummy one found on the Foodlovers website called Crisp Shortbread. They were fantastic if you like, as I do, a shortbread with a bite to it. You can find the recipe here. The Caramel crackers you can find here and you can put whatever you like on the top. These ones had toasted slivered almonds, dried apricots and pistachios. These are well worth making and are so easy yet taste so amazing.


Anyway after a busy Christmas and New Year it will be nice to return to some normalcy and regular food blogging....now what to make for work tomorrow night...if I wake up in time and with the energy to do so?.....