Peanut Butter Cupcakes

It's Peanut Butter Week! 

A friend recently posted on facebook pictures of peanut butter cupcakes. Why, I don't mind if I do! Her easy recipe just called for adding a 1/2 cup of peanut butter to a yellow cake mix - EASY! She also added half a cup of peanut butter to a chocolate frosting she made from scratch.

But let me tell you now that we had about 10 cans of frosting leftover from a visiting group, and if I can do things the easy way, I will. I could have added a 1/2 cup of frosting to the canned chocolate frosting, but I decided not to.

I'm not a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate together (don't start with me, I've heard it all), so I also frosted some with vanilla frosting.

Anna said you could also drop a Hershey kiss into each cupcake. But in my mind, a drop of jelly in the middle, topped with vanilla frosting... that sounds delicious.

Anna has just started her own Etsy shop, so you should check her out.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Time

It's peanut butter week!

In my last post I talked about my favorite peanut butter. Yum.

The true destiny of peanut butter is to be paired in eternal bliss with jelly. Or jam. Or preserves. Whatever floats your boat. My manfriend asked "okay, but what's your favorite jelly?". Well, Manfriend, I haven't found a favorite yet. This is mostly because all store bought jelly is incredibly sweet. I need to learn to make my own. However, my favorite flavor is strawberry, with marionberry coming in a close second.

So today I will expound on the heavenly pairing of peanut butter and jelly. I'm a big fan. I ate it fairly often as a kid and even asked for a PB & J sandwich whenever my grandma made roast. As a teenager my favorite thing to eat was peanut butter and jelly on sourdough - a double decker. If you've never made a double decker, let me inform you: three pieces of bread, peanut butter and jelly in between all slices. Yum city. This is success:

Apparently I made my love for PB & J well known because I received this shirt a few years ago from a friend.

 Note: I am not the man pictured above.

Everybody knows about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And you've probably had peanut butter and jelly toast. And I wouldn't put it past anybody to have made peanut butter and jelly on a bagel. 

But what about other executions? Let me recount some for you. 

**When I was living in South Korea I couldn't find decent bread. I ate peanut butter and jelly saltine sandwiches. I'm not kidding. Little saltine sandwiches, painstakingly put together. Still yum. 

**Peanut butter and jelly on plain pita chips. Yummers.

**Peanut butter and jelly taquitos. At home, I made them in flour tortillas. Here at the daycare, Cande (our cook), makes homemade corn tortillas and then fills them with PB & J. 

**Peanut butter and jelly on a spoon. Who needs bread?

And my favorite...... 

**Peanut butter and jelly ice cream. I ain't kiddin'. My mom always shops at Grocery Outlets which very often stock discontinued items. One day she picked up four pints of Ben and Jerry's: vanilla ice cream swirled with peanut butter and strawberry jelly. After those pints were gone I began to make my own and have even asked for a specialty mixed Blizzard at Dairy Queen. 

I dare you to try it. Vanilla ice cream, top with a spoon of peanut butter and a spoon of jelly. Mix, or eat little by little.

Any other suggestions? I am open to any and all recommendations involving peanut butter and jelly.

My favorite peanut butter

I think everyone has a favorite peanut butter. I know what mine is. I haven't eaten it in a while, but it lives on in my dreams until one day I float back to the Pacific Northwest (less than two weeks) and prance into the local grocery store and purchase this peanut butter. It will be a glorious day.

Although I, like many other young American children (I am not young anymore), have mostly eaten Skippy or some other famous brand for most of my life, I eventually found my way to Adams. I love Adams. Although I should state at this point that I do not eat any nuts in whole form, I do love me some peanut butter. I can't stand the texture of any kind of nut, so I abhor crunchy peanut butter. However, even though Adams creamy is a little more texture-y than most big name brands, I love it all the same. And it has less sugar and none of that added stupidity.

One day two years ago, while I was absentmindedly picking up groceries at my local WinCo, I picked up my Adams peanut butter. I liked the creamy kind that you still had to stir (because the oils separate). I liked this kind. I picked it up and went on my way.

I got home and found out that I had picked up the creamy, stir, UNSALTED kind. PURE PEANUTS. Creamy, yes, but no salt. NO SALT? I tasted it and confirmed that it was quite strange. However, being as frugal and practical as I am, I decided I had to eat it anyway before I bought a new jar.

And guess what? I fell in love. It took a little while, like any kind of falling in love does. I had to consider my options and figure out what was best for me. But I did it. I fell head over heels for the unsalted Adams, creamy, stir kind of peanut butter. It's a mouthful, but it's worth it.