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National Peanut Butter Day

partysugar — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:38:12 -0800

Woo-Hoo! I know you've all been waiting for it anxiously and finally it's here! Today is National Peanut Butter Day! Maybe I'm being a bit too enthusiastic about the whole thing, but I mean come on, who doesn't love a little peanut butter every now and again? Did you know that peanut butter was originally created to perform the same function as toothpaste way back in 1880? Or that peanut butter and jelly was a result of World War II? Apparently soldiers were given peanut butter instead of meat due to enforced rationing. The soldiers added jelly to make it taste better and viola the all American sandwich was born. To celebrate National Peanut Butter Day, I've rounded up a bunch of fun facts about peanut butter so read more

Following the regulations stated by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, 2 rodent hairs are allowed in every 100 grams of peanut butter. (Ewww, isn't that gross?!)
In Holland peanut butter is called pindakass which translates to peanut cheese. The Dutch government protects the word butter so the peanut butter makers had to improvise and substitute cheese for butter.

Apparently there is a sandwich called the fluffernutter (what a funny name! I should tell GiggleSugar, she would have a field day) that pairs peanut butter with marshmallow creme (if anyone has tried this please tell me about it below).
You probably already know this, but one of Elvis' favorite foods was a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich (has anyone ever tried this?).
I would love to know the scientific explanation behind this one: creamy peanut butter can be used to remove gum from hair and clothing.

Boscul Peanut Butter glasses - which were originally glass jars of peanut butter from the 50s - are a sought after collectors item.
Peanut butter has been banned in many schools all across America because of the severe allergic reaction that may occur to those who can not eat peanuts.
For peanut butter to be real it must consist of at least 90% peanuts.
While Americans prefer peanut butter, Europeans favor nutella.

Know a crazy fun fact about peanut butter that I failed to list here? Tell me about it por favor! I love busting out with these meaningless pieces of trivia at a dull dinner party.

Happy March!

partysugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 00:01:12 -0800

I can't believe it's March already: it seems like the holidays were yesterday. Today is not one national food related made up holiday (I've said it before and I'll say it again: if anybody knows who makes these days up please let me know!) but three. Woo-hoo! It's National Pig Day (appropriate for Chinese New Year), National Peanut Butter Lover's Day (not to be confused with National Peanut Butter Day, and National Fruit Compote Day. To celebrate all three all you have to do is pig out on peanut butter and fruit compote sandwiches. For those of you who don't eat pork, hate peanut butter, and don't know the difference between a compote and jelly here's a super fun fact involving March 1: each year the Shakers celebrate the birth of their founder with a special cake. The original recipe for the cake had the baker beating the batter with fresh cut twigs from a peach tree to impart a delicate peach flavor to the cake. Crazy to think of the techniques old-age cooks had to use!

Do You Eat Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwiches?

partysugar — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:51:19 -0700

Today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. Although I ate them frequently when I was still in school, now I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich maybe once a year. I don't know what it is about this classic all American sandwich combination but it optimizes the school lunch. My mom is a preschool teacher and everyday she makes herself a peanut butter and jelly (grape) sandwich. She eats this lunch at school but when she is at home, she makes her other lunchtime staples (turkey and crackers, grilled cheeses, cream cheese and pretzels). Which makes me wonder, do people only eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in school? What about you reader, do you eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches?

Do You Know Your Peanut Butter?

YumSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 03:32:33 -0800

November is a time for turkey and pumpkin pie, but it is also National Peanut Butter Lovers Month. America seems to love peanut butter, it can be found in about 75 percent of all homes, so I guess it makes sense that we'd celebrate it for an entire month. So grab a big spoonful or a piece of PB fudge - today is actually National Peanut Butter Fudge Day - and take this quiz to find out how well you know peanut butter. Source

Take the quiz

52 Weeks of Baking: Peanut Butter Cookies

YumSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 15:38:11 -0700

Since today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, I figured I'd go ahead and whip up a batch for myself. I thought about making a traditional peanut butter cookie, but I don't really know how to leave a good thing alone and decided that it needed some tweaking. After all, everything tastes better when Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are involved, right? Right! So I headed to the kitchen and made a cookie concoction. To see the ups and downs in creating my own peanut butter cookie recipe, read more

First of all, I'm going to fess up and say that the cookies came out a bit dry and lacked a great peanut butter flavor. However that is definitely because of the peanut butter I used. I opted for an organic, all-natural peanut butter that did not bring nearly enough oil/fat or flavor to the party. If I was going to make this particular recipe again, I would definitely opt for something like Skippy or Jif. You know, something high in fat, sugar and flavor. After all, who was I kidding? I was adding an entire bag of Reese's PB Cups to this dessert, it's not like I was going for the healthy option!

Peanut Butter Cookies
From YumSugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I'd recommend a
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
8 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - pulverized to a paste
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of chopped peanut butter cups (7-8)
1 cup of chocolate chunks

Note: One bag of Reese's PB Cups contains about 15, use them all.

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium sized bowl sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
In a large bowl (or mixer) put butter and peanut butter. Cream together.
Add brown sugar and pulverized PB cups. Mix until smooth and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, blending slowly until mixed.
Add vanilla.
In three batches, add flour mixture on low speed until blended.
Add chopped pb cups and chocolate chunks. Mix thoroughly.
Decide which size you want to make, I ended up doing it three ways.
1. Using a large ice scream scoop, make round portions of dough, flatten slightly and use tines of fork to create design. Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 17 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
2. Using your hands, make small 1-2" balls. Flatten slightly with fork (design with fork also). Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 13 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
3. Using your hands or a spoon, make small 1" balls, flatten them with the back of you hand, decorate with fork tines. Bake on cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat for about 11 minutes or until just beginning to brown.
Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 2 minutes.
Transfer to cooling rack. Store in airtight container.

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You Put Peanut Butter In My Cookie!

YumSugar — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:18:31 -0700

Believe it or not, today is another one of those "who came up with this holiday" days! This time it's National Peanut Butter Cookie day and ooohwee, I am excited about this one! Although my personal favorite is chocolate chip, I have been known to dig in to my fair share of their peanut butter cousin. To celebrate peanut butter cookie day, run to the kitchen and whip up a batch of these sweet treats. To check it out, just read more

Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
From Bon Appetit January 1998

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter (do not use old-fashioned style or freshly ground)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.
Using electric mixer, beat butter, peanut butter and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Beat in both sugars. Scrape down sides of bowl.
Stir half of dry ingredients into mixture.
Add eggs 1 at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Mix in remaining dry ingredients.
For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tablespoonful of dough into 1 3/4-inch-diameter ball.
Arrange dough balls 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Using back of fork, flatten dough balls and form crosshatch design on tops.
Bake cookies until dry on top and golden brown on bottom, about 14 minutes.
Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes.
Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks and cool completely. (Can be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

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52 Weeks of Baking: Flourless Peanut Butter Bars

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:41:17 -0800

This weekend my friend April came over to watch the Oscars with me. Since the event goes on forever and ever, I thought it would be nice to have some baked treats to snack on. However there was one small catch, April is allergic to gluten and can't have anything made with regular wheat flour. So I went in search of something gluten-free and found a bunch of great looking recipes. However only one really stood out in my mind. It was ridiculously simple looking, required no unusual ingredients or different types of flour and contained peanut butter and chocolate chips. Talk about a no-brainer. If you want to give these a try (hey, why not celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover's Day?), then check out the recipe for flourless peanut butter bars. To see full step by step pictures, read more

Flourless Peanut Butter Bars
From Celiac Chicks

I was a little dubious about this recipe, but they turned out tasty and were super-easy. They're so simple to whip up, they'd make a great treat for any gluten-free occasion.

16 oz natural peanut butter (the kind with peanuts only, no added sugar!)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup spun honey (aka creme honey, but regular honey is okay too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients and mix until blended.
Note: If you do not have a stand mixer, a large bowl with hand mixer will work well. If you do not have either, you can mix by hand but it will be gooey and difficult.
Pour mixture onto ungreased cookie sheet, using a spatula to spread the batter to cover entire pan.
Note: Thinking a brownie like concoction would be better than a cookiebar, I ended up using a cake pan. However the middles were too gooey for my liking. People devoured them nonetheless, but if you don't want to fiddle with the cooking time/temp, then I recommend sticking with bars.
Top with chocolate chips if desired. You could also top with peanuts, or swirl in jam.
Bake for about 15 minutes or until bars are golden brown.

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A Month of Cookies Roundup

YumSugar — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:01:52 -0700

Last month was National Cookie Month and, in case you didn't know, we featured a different cookie recipe each day. If you missed any of them, then you're in luck, we've compiled them all for you right here. There were some basics like snickerdoodles and shortbread, but there were also some new finds like potato chip cookies. So check out the list - there are 32, one for each day and one extra! - and see what strikes your fancy!

What Do You Know About PB&Js?

partysugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 03:01:51 -0700

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, and today is National Peanut Butter and Jelly day! To celebrate, I've put together a little quiz that tests your knowledge of the classic children's sandwich. If you love fun foodie facts, take the quiz now!

Source

Take the quiz

The Incredible Edible Chocolate Box

YumSugar — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:41:58 -0800

Today is National Chocolates Day, and since it's not chocolate but chocolates, I can only assume that it's referring to individual confections. While it seems a bit clichéd, sometimes the best thing is a box of mixed chocolate treats. You get the gooey caramel centers, the flavor infused truffles, and everything in between. I like the places where you can pick out exactly what you want in the box, as well as how many. If you're lucky enough, you can even find a chocolate factory that sells their chocolate individually. One of those places is Charles Chocolates.

I recently had the opportunity to view their facilities and sample their new products. If you're not familiar with Charles - they purposely have a small retail presence due to handling reasons - you should really remedy that. Their Caramel Almond Sticks ($11) are fabulous and their peanut butter butterflies ($27) are simply delicious, however it's their edible chocolate boxes ($45-$60) that blow me away. The entire box, lid and all, is edible. You can eat the chocolates inside and then chomp down on the box. They have a holiday collection filled with their most popular pieces, but I personally love the tea collection. The truffles are infused with five different teas and the edible lid features a painting of Chinese tea mountains. Whichever you fancy, they'll make great gifts for the chocoholic on your list, but if I were you, I'd go ahead and treat yourself.

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