Peanut chocolate crispy squares

I have made these before, and they are lovely. The recipe is from Angela, and I urge you to try it.

On Sunday I walked up to the shops (well, Aldi) and bought the few extras that I needed (rice crispies and coconut).

I normally use Nature’s Path puffed rice as it is a lot more natural, but these are not exactly a healthy treat so I wasn’t that worried! The original recipe calls for unsalted peanuts, but I decided that salted peanuts would go well in the mixture as it is very sweet (peanut butter, brown rice syrup and chocolate all melted together, plus cocoa powder, a little almond milk and vanilla).

They are then topped with a peanut butter “fudge” (basically peanut butter, melted chocolate and a little coconut oil).  I used a packet of Dr Oetker chocolate chips, and had some left so I sprinkled them on top with the coconut.

Seriously they are so tasty. I took them to a meet up on Tuesday and I think they went down well, although one of my friends is an amazing baker and she had also made chocolate peanut butter bars- we need to co-ordinate our baking a bit more!

On Monday I had a fab day. First thing I went out on a run- the weather was gorgeous.

I could not resist going on the fields.

The bluebells were looking so pretty in the sunshine, and I heard two cuckoos!

I did 5.5 miles, followed by a shower and a breakfast of fresh fruit, muesli and a few puffins (might cave in and order some from i-herb although not sure if ordering cereal from across the pond is a bit extreme).

Then I was off to pick up my Mum on the way to the station. She had managed to wrangle some hospitality tickets for the play-off final (our family are Watford fans)- my Dad and brother were going with some of their friends. We went to a super posh buffet style restaurant (the waiters were all dressed like first class air hostesses and I have never had a table checked on so many times).

Our table had a lovely view and all we could see was a sea of yellow shirts streaming past. And of course the lovely sunshine. I had a lovely mixture of salads to start with, a goats cheese and caramelised onion tart for the main, and then a mini carrot cake and mini chocolate pecan pie, plus some fruit salad for dessert. We even had the option of half time and full time drinks, but we didn’t go for those in the end.

We were given a programme each, and a team sheet (it felt very strange indeed, not like we were about to watch a football match, more like we were off to the theatre).

Flames! When the players first came out! The noise was immense in the stadium, although it wasn’t a great match. It ended up feeling really awkward as in the hospitality bit you aren’t segregated (no football shirts are allowed) but we were with the Palace fans (well there was one row of 4 Watford fans a little in front) so it felt really strange. Shame that Watford lost, but we still had a good time. Also you can see in the picture how empty the middle tier is- I think a lot of people stayed in the bars and didn’t watch any of the match.

Also turned out we were sat next to Jay from the Inbetweeners (although I am not a fan of that show)- he was a Palace fan- we only realised when other people started asking him for photos.

Then the worst bit- heading back home. It always seems to take ages getting back out of London again.

It is such a shame the weather has taken a turn though. Yesterday morning I braved the allotment (the grass was actually 3 ft high in places, dandelions everywhere)- I ended up chopping loads of stuff down and pulling up a lot of weeds, and then ended up getting to my friends house late because I didn’t realise the time. My back was pretty sore, so instead of a run last night we went on a walk after dinner.

Right, that is a long enough post for now!