PB & J Remix: Kick Peanut Butter and Jelly Up a Notch
You don’t need us to tell you how to make a PB & J sandwich, but we can teach you how to go the extra mile with your ingredients. Here are a couple of our favorite recipes that use those timeless ingredients: peanut butter and jelly.
RECIPE: New World Grape Jam
From The Fruit Foragers Companion
Makes 2–3 half-pint jars, or 5–6 quarter-pint jars (480–720 ml)
Grape jam has a little more oomph than grape jelly. It’ll make you reconsider its applications beyond the traditional PB&J. Make this with the bulbous, sweet, thick-skinned grapes we can proudly call our own as North Americans: Concord, muscadine, scuppernong. Squeezing the pulp from the skins increases your yield, but more important, it increases the grapey flavor. The technique of pureeing the skins with sugar before cooking the jam came from a recipe in the late, great Gourmet magazine.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds (1.4 kg) Concord, muscadine, or scuppernong grapes
- 3 cups (600 g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Procedure
- Halve the grapes, if necessary. Pop their insides (the pulp) into one large bowl, and drop their skins into another large bowl.
Put the skins in a food processor or high-powered blender, along with about 2⁄3 cup (130 g) of the sugar. - Process until liquidy. Scrape into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan. Add the lemon juice, the remaining sugar, and the grape pulp.
- Stir, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off the foamy scum that forms along the edges of the pot.
- Transfer the whole hot mess to a food mill and force it through. Discard the scraggly solids left in the mill. Return the liquid to the pot, bring back to a simmer, and cook until the jam passes the gelling test or reaches 220°F (105°C) on a candy thermometer. This could take 20 to 45 minutes.
- Ladle the jam into the hot jars, leaving 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) headspace. Wipe off the rims, set clean and dry lids in place, and screw on the bands so they are fingertip tight. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.
- The jam is best after its flavor has had a few days to bloom. Dole the jars out carefully, because they are gorgeous and their contents are amazing.
NOTE: If you don’t have a food processor or high-powered blender, chop the grape skins finely with a knife and add all of the sugar to the pot when you start cooking the jam.
RECIPE: Peanutty Chocolate Torte
This tart is absolutely decadent and a great party piece. It is tried, tested and much loved by kids, too. It does contain a good amount of dairy and is full of calories, but trust me, it’s totally worth it every now and then. If you’re reluctant to use peanut butter, you can use almond butter or a mix of almond and cashew butter.
Ingredients
Base:
- 55g (1.9 oz) butter (55g)
- 80g (2.8 oz) erythritol (80g)
- 35g (1.2 oz) cacao powder (35g)
- 100g (3.5 oz) ground almonds (100g) 100g (3.5 oz) desiccated coconut (100g)
- 40g (1.4 oz) walnuts, ground to a coarse flour (40g)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence, no alcohol (5g)
Filling:
- 220g (2.8 oz) full-fat cream cheese (220g)
- 165g (5.8 oz) smooth peanut butter (165g)
- 105g (3.7 oz) cream, lightly whipped (105g)
- 60g (2.1 oz) erythritol (60g)
- 2 tsp vanilla essence, no alcohol (10g)
Topping:
- 75g (2.6 oz) coconut oil (75g)
- 55g (1.9 oz) dark chocolate, e.g. Lindt
- 90% cocoa solids (55g)
- 35g (1.2 oz) cacao powder (35g)
- 25g (0.9 oz) erythritol (25g)
- 20 drops of liquid stevia (1g)
Procedure
- To make the base, melt the butter in a small pan over a medium heat, then stir in the erythritol and cacao powder and mix until it thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the ground almonds, desiccated coconut, walnut flour and vanilla essence.
- After mixing everything really well, press the mixture flat into the base of a small round pan and refrigerate.
- To make the filling, mix the cream cheese and peanut butter together. Add the whipped cream, erythritol and vanilla essence and whisk well until smooth. Take the base out of the fridge and spoon the filling on top.
- To make the topping, melt the coconut oil and chocolate together in a small pan. Add the cacao powder and erythritol and stir until smooth. Add the stevia, then spread the topping over the filling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
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