It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time

My little sister has always loved peanut butter and jelly. I, however, don't eat it. I didn't when I was little and still won't. I don't like the combination of flavors, nor do I enjoy how sticky and squishy it is. However, these I will actually eat! They're a bit addicting, even though they are very dense. I would suggest keeping 1/2 for your family and giving the rest to another family. Share the love!

Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Makes: ~ 36 bars

Recipe originated from: Martha Stewart Cookies ( http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peanut-butter-and-jelly-bars )

Compliments: A tall glass of milk! And a napkin, because they are pretty messy.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, or other flavor
- 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter, and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the parchment, and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly with offset spatula. Using offset spatula, spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool; cut into about thirty-six 1 1/2-by-2-inch pieces.

Now, I used raspberry jelly, but you could use any kind! It took me about 10 minutes standing in front of all the jellies at the store to decide, too. I just love raspberry flavor, so I decided it would mean I might actually eat these. It worked! It's salty and sweet and oh so good. Now, I will say the 'dough' is actually pretty crumbly, so you can't really spread it when you put the last bit on top of the jelly. I ended up flattening pieces out and laying them on top. It's also very crumbly. Careful when feeding to small children- you will have a mess on your hands. However, its a cute idea when you need to bring a dessert to like a picnic. So here is a quick tip that I learned from school- if using the 'creaming method' (aka cream together the butter and sugar) go ahead and throw the vanilla in. It wont hurt the mixture, and you're using Mise en Place (Remember? Everything in it's place!) you can put the vanilla up at the very beginning and don't even have to worry about it! So try these- they're great for the summer. Kind of a cheeky rendition of a child's favorite.

Abby xx

So Hot We'll Melt Your Popsicle

When I ran to the grocery store the other morning to get stuff for scones, I remembered a recipe I had seen in Southern Living the night before. I pulled it up on my phone, and grabbed the stuff I needed for them because I was there at the store anyway. They're a version of a popsicle, but muchhhh better for you than everything you can buy thats loaded with sugar. Perfect for coming home after a long day at the lake!

Recipe: Berry-Banana Freezer Pops

Makes: ~ 4 pops

Recipe originated from: Southern Living, August 2010 issue ( http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=2003446 )

Compliments: Hot sun and cool water

Ingredients:
- 3 cups fresh or frozen berries
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
- 1 banana
- 10 (2-oz.) pop molds
- Craft sticks


Directions:
1.Bring berries and honey to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Strain mixture into a bowl, using a spoon to squeeze out juice and pulp. Discard solids. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
2. Process yogurt and banana in a blender until smooth.
3. Pour into pop molds, alternating with berry mixture. Top with lid, and insert craft sticks. Freeze.

So I used frozen fruit, and I didn't have pop molds, so I bought small plastic punch cups, and used plastic spoons as the stick. To get them to stand up I put the end of the spoon through a piece of plastic wrap first, then stuck the spoon in the mixture and put the plastic wrap around the cup. I think it worked pretty well. I also didn't dirty the blender and just mashed the bananas into the yogurt by hand. They were good, but they melted fairly quickly.. which is why the disposable cup was nice. You could drip into it. They were tart-ish, and the berry part tended to melt faster than the yogurt, but it was good! I think if you need to get rid of frozen berries this is the way to do it. Also, if you are looking for an ice cream like dessert but don't want all the calories, this is a good alternative. I don't know if I'd make them berry again... I would probably do all strawberry or all peach or something so maybe they wouldn't be as tart. But they are pretty! Very summery and cool.

Abby xx

Summer Sunshine, Pour Your Sweetness On Me

I feel like thinking of summertime conjures images of days at the lake/beach, hanging out with friends, and roasting s'mores, with the gooey-goodness marshmallow sugar leaking out the sides. So we made these in class the other day, and I thought it was a really fun and easy recipe. So you will need a candy thermometer, but you can buy those pretty much anywhere. I usually don't like marshmallows, but I did like these. Surprising!

Recipe: Homemade Marshmallows

Makes: ~ 24 - 2 1/2 inch marshmallows

Recipe originated from: joyofbaking.com ( http://www.joyofbaking.com/candy/HomemadeMarshmallows.html )

Compliments: Graham cracker and chocolate bars! They would also be good in the winter with hot chocolate.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup cold water, divided
- 3 - 1/4 oz envelopes (21 grams) unflavored gelatin
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Lightly butter or spray the bottom of a 9x13 dish, then line with parchment paper. Sift about 3 tablespoons powdered sugar onto the bottom of the pan (it helps it come off).
2. Place 1/2 cup of cold water into the bowl of your electric mixer that is fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand until gelatin softens, about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a heavy two quart saucepan, place the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup cold water. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Cover the saucepan with a lid and let boil for about three minutes to allow any sugar crystals to dissolve from the sides of the saucepan. Remove the lid and attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Increase heat to high and boil, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 240 degrees F, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
4. With mixer running at low speed, slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatin mixture in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Gradually increase the speed to high and beat until mixture has tripled in volume and is very thick and stiff, about 10 minutes (looks like thick creme of marshmallow). Add vanilla extract and beat to combine, about 30 seconds longer.
5. Scrape marshmallow mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a damp offset spatula or rubber spatula. The mixture is very sticky so just smooth it out as best as you can. Dust the top of the marshmallow with another 3 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar and let stand, uncovered, at room temperature until set, about 12 hours.
6. Remove the marshmallow from the pan by first running a small sharp knife around the edge of the marshmallow to loosen it from the pan. Invert the pan onto a large cutting board that has been dusted with confectioners' sugar. You might have to use your fingers to help loosen the marshmallow from the pan. Peel off the parchment paper (the marshmallow will be sticky) and dust the top of the marshmallow with confectioners' sugar. Cut the marshmallow into squares using a pizza roller or sharp knife. Dip the cut sides of the marshmallows in additional confectioners' sugar. Shake off excess sugar and store the marshmallows in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to two weeks.

So whats cool about this recipe is that you can make them flavored! Mine were lemon, so I just used lemon zest and about 1 teaspoon of lemon extract. Be careful about adding any sort of acidic fruit- the acid changes the structure of the sugar crystals. However, chef did make blueberry and strawberry marshmallows! You can add some of the fruit you want to flavor it with (as long as its not lime or lemon) to the sugar mixture on the stove so they break down with it, and then just throw some small diced fruit in right before you pour the hot sugar mixture in to be whipped. It will be naturally colored and flavored! Oh, and delicious. So if you are planning on doing a cookout before summer ends, put together s'mores with flavored homemade marshmallows. Can you imagine how yummy raspberry marshmallow and dark chocolate s'mores would be?

Abby xx