
Last weekend I was struck by a very intense craving for one of my nostalgic childhood foods, so I hightailed it to the grocery store to buy some frozen waffles. I've said before that some of the best sandwiches
evoke memories, and this recipe goes back when I was maybe 7 or 8, and my mom fixed me some waffles before realizing we were out of syrup. She improvised to make this sandwich, and "peanut butter and jelly waffles" soon became one of my favorite meals.Like the nonwaffly version, this PB&J is very easy to make and can inspire countless variations: almond instead of peanut butter, different flavors of waffles or even waffles from scratch, honey in place of jelly, Elvis-style with bananas, and on and on.

Although there a tons of different equally delicious desserts out there, for a child's birthday, let them eat cake. Ask the birthday honoree what type of cake they would like to celebrate their big day.
Kenny is a huge fan of Butterfinger candy bars, so this milk chocolate-peanut butter layer cake is perfect for him.

Recently, I was treated to a box of
Bouchon Bakery goodies with a gigantic Nutter Butter cookie in the box. Everyone knows the famous peanut-stamped cookie with peanut-butter-cream filling from their childhood, and this homemade version was delightfully gourmet. While I remember that
Nutter Butters were delicious, these cookies, made by culinary legend
Thomas Keller, were absolutely heavenly!

The other day I popped down to the local deli for a quick sandwich. The folks I was with were talking about how great the peanut butter and jelly was, so I ended up getting one for myself. I rarely eat peanut butter sandwiches, and it was definitely a nice treat.

YumJimmy recently had a birthday, and to help him celebrate, I thought I'd send him off to work with some sweet treats for his co-workers.
Last year's treat was an intense labor of love, so this year I decided to take it easy.
I was inspired by the
million-dollar winning Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe and used it, along with a delicious peanut butter recipe from
Melissa Murphy's new book, to come up with some treats.