Back in the Kitchen

So much is gone!

     I am back! I am cooking again! This is so exciting. Having my first home-cooked meals after a long weekend of eating out felt really good. I missed being in the kitchen - even if it was only three days. So, what did I make for my very first day back? Something ridiculously easy. Something using the only groceries I bought on my first grocery shopping trip after coming back from Boston: milk, bread, peanut butter and jam. Could any other groceries be more important? 

      I am going to have quite a collection of peanut butter and jelly recipes. But, what can I do when peanut butter and jelly is such a great combination? My friend BJG was actually talking about how he ate pb&j's at the farm he was working on over spring break and how amazing they were, and I started craving them so much (hence the grocery shopping). But I wanted something more, something special - something like this dish. So now, while staring confusedly at the pictures, you ask: What is this dish exactly? It is: Peanut butter and jelly bread pudding! 

All pretty in pink.

     I was hoping it would be utterly original. I mean, I knew it wouldn't be. But just for that little bit of hope, I didn't even bother to look it up online, and I just made up the recipe the way I wanted. Of course, my friends looked it up and killed my hope (even Food Network has made a pb & j bread pudding). Still, mine was better! It is better! (There's still a piece left. Or at least half a piece.)   

     Do you know why I know it is so good it must be one of the best? I used Strawberry preserves, so there are delicious bursts of strawberry throughout. I used enough peanut butter that it tastes like my kind of peanut butter sandwich - super peanut buttery. And, there is that extra something I never even thought of. I used the bread I had on hand, which was Arnold's wheat bread with "Ancient Grains" (yes, that's actually what it is called). First of all, this made the pudding taste Exactly like my peanut butter sandwiches because I never buy white bread anyway. Those Ancient Grains though, they were the best little surprise. Crunchy and slightly savory, they undercut the sweet denseness of the pudding in the best possible way. I do love good food. 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bread Pudding 

4 slices Wheat Bread with Grains, slightly stale is best (but I used half fresh and half stale...)  

1 1/2 cup Milk 

3/4 cup Peanut Butter 

1/2 cup Strawberry Preserves (or your favorite jam) 

2 Eggs, Beaten  

2 tbsp Sugar 

     Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees and butter a loaf pan. Then, crumble the four pieces of bread into a bowl so they are in about 1/2 inch pieces. In a separate medium bowl, mix the peanut butter, jam or preserves, milk, eggs, and sugar together. (I suggest an electric beater if you have one, it is hard to mix peanut butter into liquid with a spoon -- I ended up using my hands.) Dump the pieces of bread into the liquid and turn them so they are all soaking in liquid. Cover and let it rest for half an hour or until most of the liquid has soaked into the bread. Then, pour into the loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hr (until the top looks firm and is not liquidy anymore). Let cool on a wire rack for ten minutes. Cut slices or scoop out portions, and eat! 

Nutella Cookies Take Two

Cooookie

     Today, I started cooking very late. This means, I cooked between 10:45 pm and now. But, look at me, I am posting! Do you know why? Because I made cookies, and cookies take no time at all. What kind of cookies? Well, I did title this post "Nutella Cookies" after all. But, they are not any Nutella cookies: they are flourless Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies.

No more peanut butter!

     There are these flourless peanut butter cookies that I make quite often. They require only four ingredients: peanut butter, sugar, baking soda, and an egg. But, lo and behold, there was barely any peanut butter at home! So, using Nutella instead seemed the natural thing to do. We have two whole things of Nutella here, my family is obviously prepared for these late night cooking crises.

     The thing is that Nutella doesn't work exactly like peanut butter. It is less dense and - I think - not as buttery. So, my mom said to add flour to the cookies. But, I wanted to try something new. I wanted true flourless cookies! I went with my instincts. I did figure using the Nutella would make the cookies spread more, so I only put about seven on each cookie sheet. I also reduced the baking time (well, not in time to fix the first batch - CV, who I was skyping with, made me forget the importance of taking these cookies out early....but I got to talk to him, yay!).

Guess what it looks like????

     So, how did my cookies turn out? Well, I did overcook the first batch, sigh. They are light and crispy and still taste good, but even though I have eaten far too many -- to save other people from eating them of course --- I must say that they have gotten a little burnt around the edges. What do the second batch taste like? Peanut buttery chocolately hazelnut-y goodness. They are thin and chewy and like candy almost. Now, all I need is a glass of milk.

Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies 
Adapted from Honey and Jam 

1/4 cup Peanut Butter 
3/4 cup Nutella 
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar 
1 Egg 
1 tsp Baking Soda

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and butter (grease) two baking sheets. Using an electric beater, mix the peanut butter, Nutella, and sugar together. Then, beat in the egg and baking soda. Roll the batter into small (about half a tbsp) balls and place them on the baking sheet, about 7 per sheet. Bake for about 7-8 minutes, until they are light colored with darker streaks running through them. Cool on the sheet for 3 minutes and then cool them all the way on a wire rack. Enjoy with a glass of milk! 

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Jam. One of the greatest bounties of the Earth.

     So, last night, I told you all about making pho. And, the pho was delicious (I had it again for lunch today). But, as is my wont, by midnight I was getting a little peckish again. I needed my sweet after my meal, and what sweet did I crave? Peanut butter and jelly. Peanut butter and strawberry jam may be one of the best combinations in the world (I'm sure someone disagrees and has some other jam of preference - but its still peanut butter and jam, and that is what is most important).

Making Peanut Butter even More Delicious.

     However, I didn't just want an ordinary PB and J. I wanted something special I had seen on Have Cake Will Travel. I love food blogs, don't you? They make such delightful things and give me so many great recipes. Well, this recipe sounded just perfect. It was for Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars: a layer of jam sandwiched between two layers of peanut butter cookie/cake-ness. It would only take half an hour in the oven and ingredients (with some substitutions) that I had on hand - and it sounded delicious.

     There was only one problem. I did not have that much jam left, and there needed to be enough for a substantial layer between the two peanut butter layers. Did that deter me? Of course not. What did I do? The only thing one could have done to this bar to make it more delicious. I made up my missing weight in jam with Nutella. Have you ever tried strawberry jam mixed with Nutella? With a spoon straight out of the mixture? I suggest you try it at least once in your lifetime. If you have a sweet tooth like mine, there is just nothing like a lick of that smooth sweet strawberry chocolate taste.

Ah, Deliciousness.

     So, how was my late night creation? Well, it was a layer of soft peanut buttery cookie, a sweet layer of chocolatey strawberry jam, and then more peanut butter cookie crumbled on top. Make your own conclusions people. Let me just tell you that I have eaten three - huge - pieces since it came out of the oven last night at 1 am. One of those pieces was my breakfast, and a most lovely breakfast it was. Try this with your favorite jam or other spread, obviously anything goes. But, please do try it because it is just full of comfort, happiness, and the absolutely perfect flavors of Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Peanut Butter and Jam Bars 
Adapted from Have Cake Will Travel 

1/2 cup Softened Butter or Margarine 
1/2 cup Sugar 
1 cup Peanut Butter (any kind) 
1 tsp Vanilla Extract 
1 Egg 
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour 
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt 
3/4 cup Jam or Jam + Nutella (I used 1/2 cup Jam, 1/4 cup Nutella, I believe) 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8 in Square Pan (or your loaf pan and prepare to make two batches.)

In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and egg using an electric mixer. Then, add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir the mixture until it is just combined. Then, using your hands, spread 2/3 of the the dough into the prepared pan, pressing it down (or 2/3 of half the dough if you are using a loaf pan). Next, spread the jam evenly on top. Crumble the remaining 1/3 of the dough on top of the jam. Put the pan in the oven for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Then, place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Finally, cut the square (or loaf) into bars, and carefully transfer them using a spatula onto a wire rack to cool completely. (Repeat for the other half of dough and jam if you are using a loaf pan.) Try to wait for them to cool before you eat! 

Packaging Care

     I have this most amazing friend CV. But, whenever I talk to him, he is stressed and in the library and swamped with work. It makes me want to give him a hug, except that he goes to school in Canada, which is a long way for even a telepathic hug to travel. So, instead, I send him food. Last semester, I sent him off some banana bread and cookies. This semester, I thought I would do the same. Loaf cakes and cookies are foods that travel very well. But, one mustn't be repetitive. What new kind of well-travel-able cake can I make? The answer came to me in my usual obsessive perusing of different food blogs. Joy the Baker had posted the perfect recipe: Peanut Butter Banana Bread.

     On being polled, my friend agreed that Peanut Butter Banana Bread was indeed what he wanted. And so, I bought peanut butter and bananas today. It was the kind of day where I had work and class and then an hour and then work, and now I'm here. It was the kind of day where I went grocery shopping for peanut butter and bananas right before my work at night, realized I didn't have enough time to return home, and brought my peanut butter and bananas to work. Needless to say, I had a peanut butter and banana snack (read: a lot of peanut butter with a banana) while working. There are perks to being a food blogger and buying small streams of groceries. And, I love peanut butter.

     Banana bread is really just an amazing food. You can add chocolate (I had to), you can add peanut butter (Joy the Baker or whoever first thought of it is a genius), berries...I'm sure you could add almost anything to banana bread and it would come out delicious. You can also subtract, if you don't have brown sugar, or yogurt, or flax meal for example - Joy's recipe called for it, I simply looked the other way and substituted when I could. Whole milk for yogurt was an easy substitution to make. I still have to use up that gallon of whole milk, sigh.

"Taste testing" the banana bread

     Banana bread is also ridiculously easy. Its a one or two bowl, one or two spoons operation at the most. And it comes out so moist, and homey, and fragrant, and delicious every time. This banana bread was no different. While warm, it was soft, with melty chocolate, and hints of cinnamon and spice, and then that almost salty peanut buttery taste flowing through it all. It was delicious. My friend PN who taste tested it with me does not like the butt of a cake, so she got a middle piece which she says was very soft and fluffy. I ate the butt, and it was crunchy and delicious. Just right for a midnight snack.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread 
Adapted from Joy the Baker Adapted from Cooking Light 

1 Loaf Pan

1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Soda 

1/2 tsp Salt 

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Allspice 
3 Ripe Bananas, Mashed (if they are not so so ripe: microwave them for a little and then mash them)
1/4 cup Milk  
1/3 cup Peanut Butter (I used Extra Crunchy to get peanut bits, Joy used Creamy. Go wild) 
3 tbsp Butter, Melted
2 large Eggs 
1 cup Sugar 
1/4 cup Chocolate Chips (I had a Hershey's bar so I crumbled it up and used that...Ya) 

Place a rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 by 5 in loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice together. In a medium bowl, whisk the mashed bananas, milk, peanut butter, and melted butter together. Then, whisk in the eggs and sugar. Mix until there are no sugar lumps. Next, pour this wet mixture into the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold everything together with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Then, add the chocolate chips. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake the cake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven when done. On a wire rack, cool the bread in the pan for ten minutes. Then, run a knife along the edges of the pan, and invert the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely.