Recipe: Peanut butter squares

It feels like forever since I posted a recipe on here so I guess it's about time for an overdue baking post.

There's always, without fail, a few jars of peanut butter in our kitchen cupboards. Usually we have a few jars on the go because one of us will foolishly open a jar without realising another is already open... but I guess it doesn't matter too much really because they always get finished. We go through jars of the stuff! Peanut butter is one of my favourite, staple foods and I adore it, whether it's layered on thick slices of toasted brown bread or spread on slices of fresh, cut-up apple or... yep, I'll admit it... straight out of the jar on a spoon. Too good! Just the smell of peanut butter takes me straight back mentally to my childhood. On cosy afternoons at home my Mum would make us peanut butter on toast as a pick-me-up. Maybe it's a sentimental thing but peanut butter will always remain a comfort food for me.

In a moment of chocolatey-craving-madness this week, I started flicking through my recipe books in an attempt to find something that would satisfy my desire for naughty little treat. Then I remembered about one of Lorraine Pascale's recipes I discovered a while ago -  Peanut Butter Squares. With my firm love of peanut butter, I couldn't resist giving them a try.

You can find the original recipe here on the BBC Good Food website. I doubled the recipe though, to make a large batch of them to share with friends. So to make the same quantity that I made...

you will need:

300g unsalted butter
400g dark chocolate

500g digestive biscuits (1 x pack)

400g soft light brown sugar

600g crunchy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla extract


Melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat and set aside.

Chop the chocolate into small chunks and melt in a bowl over some simmering water. When all melted, give it a stir and take off the heat.

In a food processor, blitz the digestive biscuits and the sugar until you have fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and stir in the peanut butter too. Add the vanilla extract and give everything a stir.

Tip the mixture into a tin lined with baking parchment. Place the tin in the freezer for ten minutes to set.

Take out the freezer and pour the melted chocolate on top, making sure to tip the tin up and down to ensure all of the chocolate spreads evenly and covers all the peanut butter mixture. Then place the tin back in the freezer for a further 30 mins.

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Of course if you make these yourself, do let me know!


Lydia xxx