It’s peanut butter jelly time!
(Bet you won’t get that song out of your head for awhile — sorry, but not really, for the ear worm! Now, be sure to sing along with it as you wash your hands for at least 20 seconds.)
April 2 has been designated as National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day — a place of honor on the food holiday calendar.
Note that this is not National Peanut Butter Lovers’ Day, which was celebrated on March 1. That one ghosts the other half of the equation, leaving out the all-important jelly.
Instead, National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day celebrates a pairing as perfect as macaroni and cheese, chips ‘n’ dip, pizza and beer, and other such dynamic duos.
We’re serving up a few new takes on the classic pb&j which, at its most basic, is merely peanut butter and jelly schmeared onto bread.
But the alchemy ... swoon. It’s so much more than the sum of its parts.
Our versions are even more fun and more flavorful, with the three basic pantry ingredients served in some unexpected ways.
Thai-Style Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken Burgers offer lots of taste and texture, with sugar, salt, spice, crispness, and crunch all in one big bite.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Pull-Apart Bread is a warm, wonderful version of the staple sandwich, baked until golden brown. It’s savory, sweet, and so simple to make.
And Peanut Butter and Rhubarb Jelly French Toast offers a glammed-up, glorious breakfast version — a mash-up of two classics into one.
A perennial favorite combination, this is just the sort of comfort food we need, right now.
That’s right: it’s peanut butter ‘n’ jelly time.
Thai-Style Peanut Butter and Jelly Chicken Burgers
⅓ cup shallots, minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
¼ cup coconut milk
4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 pounds ground chicken
2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
¾ cup dry bread crumbs
1½ teaspoons salt
¾ teaspoon pepper
¼ cup hot pepper jelly
½ cup peanuts, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
½ cup finely chopped cucumber
4 ciabatta rolls, split in half and toasted
4 large leaves leaf or butter lettuce
Sauté shallots in a saucepan with canola oil over medium heat until translucent. Remove ¼ cup of the shallots and place in a large bowl and let cool.
In the saucepan with remaining shallots, add coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Add peanut butter and soy sauce; mix well. Set peanut sauce aside.
In the bowl with the shallots, add chicken, curry paste, and bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper and mix lightly. Form into 4 patties.
Cook on a grill over medium-high until cooked through and a thermometer inserted in the thickest part reads 165F.
Meanwhile, place jelly in a saucepan and heat until just melted. Add peanuts, cilantro, and cucumber to jelly; mix well.
Serve the burgers on the ciabatta rolls: place a lettuce leaf onto the bottom, drizzle with the peanut butter sauce, top with a chicken patty, and add dollops of the jelly mixture.
Yield: Serves 4
Source: Adapted from Crystal Baldwin, marketdistrict.com
Peanut Butter and Jelly Pull-Apart Bread
1 16.3-ounce can Pillsbury Grands Flaky Layers Biscuits
½ cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup favorite jam (see note)
2 tablespoons melted butter
Sugar
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8- by 4-inch loaf pan, then line it with parchment paper.
Pull the biscuit rounds apart into halves to get 16 rounds; lay them on a work surface. Place a spoonful of peanut butter onto half of the rounds, then a spoonful of jam onto each remaining round.
Sandwich together one peanut butter round with one jelly round to make a sandwich; repeat with the remaining biscuits.
Place the biscuit sandwiches into the pan one at a time, perpendicular to the base of the pan, to form a long row from end-to-end. Brush the biscuits with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake until the top is golden brown, about 35 minutes; cover with foil if it starts to darken too much. Remove from oven and let rest until cool enough to eat but still warm, then remove from pan and serve.
Note: Jam is thicker than jelly; jelly will seep out and/or be absorbed by the bread.
Yield: 8 servings
Source: Adapted from hellowonderful.com
Peanut Butter and Rhubarb Jelly French Toast
Jelly:
2 cups diced rhubarb
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup honey, plus more if a sweeter jelly is preferred
¼ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (optional)
2 tablespoons water
1 cup fresh berries
French toast:
8 thick-cut slices bread, i.e.: Texas toast
Rhubarb Jelly
Creamy peanut butter
4 eggs
Heavy cream or milk
Pinch of salt
Butter, for the pan
Powdered sugar, for dusting
Maple syrup for serving, if desired
Make the jelly: Combine rhubarb, lemon juice, honey, sugar, vanilla bean seeds, and water in a saucepan; heat over high heat. Cook, stirring, until the rhubarb softens and becomes a pulp. (Be careful, the mixture will splatter.) Add the berries; cook until the berries turn into jam and the liquid has mostly evaporated from the pot, about 8 minutes. Taste, adding additional honey if you prefer the jelly more sweet. Remove from the heat and allow the jelly to sit undisturbed about 10 minutes. Place in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the french toast: Lay the pieces of bread flat on a work surface. Spread two pieces of the bread with jelly and then spread the remaining two with peanut butter. Sandwich the jelly sides with the peanut butter sides to form two sandwiches.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the eggs with a couple splashes of cream or milk. Whisk in a pinch of salt.
Place a large skillet over medium heat and add the butter to melt. Once hot, dip both sides of each sandwich into the egg mixture, making sure the eggs are soaking into the bread. Place the sandwiches in the hot skillet and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side.
Remove to a serving plate and dust with powdered sugar, then serve with maple syrup if desired.
Yield: 4 servings
Source: Adapted from halfbakedharvest.com
First Published April 1, 2020, 1:44 a.m.
