Dad's Peanut Butter Bread with Chocolate IcingMy oh my, where will I start this party! I must first apologise for my hiatus. Besides my recent engagement to my wonderful partner of almost 7 years and a far too brief Easter getaway to the glorious Fitzroy Island, I've been battling the tides in a sea of textbooks and assignments as I begin my journey to become a teacher. But alas! The baking has not stopped, it has simply evolved into a little something I like to call procrastibaking... Another batch of warm cookies to eat while I study? Well, I say, what a fabulous idea!In another fabulous move, I am proud to announce that stylepot is a finalist in the Australian Writers' Centre Best Australian Blogs competition for 2014. To be selected as one of our nation's top five food blogs is amazing and, well, a bit surreal! As my wonderful readers know, this blog just started out as my electronic recipe file and, evidently, it has grown to influence so many people. stylepot has progressed from sharing recipes with family and friends, to sharing family recipes with all of you, my wonderful readers. So today, suitably, I share with you a family recipe that gave me much joy as a child - my Dad's Peanut Butter Bread.My parents are extraordinary, both wonderful cooks, and my brother and I have many fond memories of the years that my Dad spent as a stay-at-home Dad when we lived in Maryborough. I will never forget this loaf of Peanut Butter Bread that my Dad baked and bought along to our class 'Teddy Bear Picnic' in Grade 2. I thought it was the best thing ever, and I made sure that everybody knew that it was my Dad who had cooked it! To this day, I remember being such a proud, bossy little thing, and I'm positive that all of the Mums at that picnic were secretly jealous that Dad had baked something so delicious. (If they weren't green-eyed, they really should have been because those slices went like hotcakes!) I've since spruced Dad's peanut butter loaf up a bit by adding a rich chocolate icing because you can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate! Kids young and old are sure to enjoy this one.Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder1/3 cup brown sugar1 egg1 cup milk, warmed3/4 cup smooth peanut butter250g milk chocolate3 teaspoons cream
Method:Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a bread tin with non-stick paper.Combine the flour, baking powder and brown sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre.Heat the milk in the microwave or over the stove, and add the peanut butter. Whisk until smooth. Add egg to the milk mixture and whisk to combine.Pour milk mixture into the flour and mix until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through. Once cooked, transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely.Meanwhile, place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring between intervals, until you have a smooth glossy mixture. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before spreading over top of loaf. Enjoy!
