I love peanut butter anything. This is not a love I share out loud, in fact, I think it was quite a latent love because I used to watch what I ate and peanut butter was something I never ate so I didn’t watch it.

However. I am on maternity leave and have settled into a nice routine with some other mums from work who are also on maternity leave and so we bake. Boy do we bake. And if you follow me on Twitter, you may remember oh, about three months ago, where I baked and attempted to eat my body weight in peanut butter cookies. SO GOOD.

So the peanut butter was calling out to me again, everytime I opened the fridge. (I live in the tropics. Peanut butter belongs squarely in the fridge. So does Vegemite). I was browsing through my copy of Nigella Lawson‘s How to be a Domestic Goddess when I found it. The perfect peanut butter recipe.

Behold:

Nigella Lawson’s Peanut Butter Squares

Ingredients

For the base

• 50g dark muscovado sugar (I used brown sugar but muscovado sugar is availble at Epicurious)
• 200g icing sugar
• 50g unsalted butter
• 200g smooth peanut butter

For the topping

• 200g milk chocolate
• 100g plain chocolate (in Australia we don’t distinguish between these two chocolates so I used 300g milk chocolate)
• 1 tablespood unsalted butter

For baking

• 1 x 23cm square brownie tin, lined, preferably with Bake-O-Glide (I used a rectangle tin and lined it with baking paper, ungreased)

Process (in Nigella’s words, taken from page 223 of How to be a Domestic Goddess)

Stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth. I use the paddle attachment to my mixer which my children love operating, but a bowl and a wooden spoon will do the job just as well. You will find, either way, that some of the dark muscovado sugar stays in rubbly, though very small, lumps, but don’t worry about that. Press the sandy mixture into the lined brownie tin and make the surface as even as possible.

To make the topping, melt the chocolates and butter together (in a microwave for ease, for a minute or two on medium) and spread on the base. Put the tin in the fridge to set. When the chocolate has hardened, cut into small squares – because, more-ish as it undeniably is, it is also very rich.

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Thank you Nigella, love from me and my tastebuds! xx