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Tag: Peanut butter

  • Peanut Butter and Jelly French Toast

    As we play our way through Dragon Age Inquisition for the first time, I have to say that it puts us in a rather aggressive mindset. We feel the urge to go forth and conquer things and conform them to our ideologies for the sake of the “greater good.” We have applied such schools of thought to our cooking recently, and one of the things that we have “conquered” as of late has been something notorious for its (way too) sweet reputation: French toast. Usually covered in butter corn syrup (sweet), dusted in powdered sugar (sweeter), and often soaked in eggs saturated in sugar and cinnamon (just eat a Pillsbury cinnamon roll, for goodness sake), French toast hasn’t been something that we seek out. But one day, Nate made some incredible homemade bread and we had to use it up. We made a few tasty favorites with it, but still had some left. So, we decided to go outside our comfort zone and venture into enemy territory (sorry, sweet tooths [teeth?])…

    We decided to make French toast.

    After some research we decided to base our recipe on something we found in the vast archives of the Martha Stewart empire, but suppress most of the sugary influences (of course). That left us with the conundrum of toppings. We had maple syrup and powdered sugar on hand (we swear we don’t know how it got there), but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to use them. We knew we would be disappointed. In search of a solution, we got creative. We always have an overstock of peanut butter in the pantry, and having just returned from Sauvie Island, we had plenty of strawberry jam to use. And then we had a thought: What if we took a classic and made it better?

    What you see before you is how we will eat French toast for the rest of our lives. Salty peanut butter and seasonal jam on top of perfect french toast that is crisp on the outside, and almost like cake on the inside.

    • 2 eggs
    • ¼ cup half and half
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
    • pinch salt
    • pinch ground cinnamon
    • 2 1-inch slices artisan bread (day old preferable)
    • Oil or butter for cooking
    • Peanut butter
    • Any seasonal jam/preserves/jelly/marmalade/etc.
    • Banana, sliced (optional)

    Whisk together egg, half and half, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a baking dish (big enough to hold all your bread). Soak bread in egg mixture for 10 minutes on each side. Heat a skillet and butter over medium low heat and cook each side of the bread for 2–3 minutes, until golden brown.


    peanut-butter-and-jelly-french-toast-01

    If making more than one batch, preheat oven to its lowest setting. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet in the oven. Remove from heat, and put in the oven until all your French toast is ready.

    Serve immediately with peanut butter, jam, or whatever you want on top.

    Serves 2.


    peanut-butter-and-jelly-french-toast-02

  • Salty Peanut Butter Sundae


    peanut-butter-ice-cream-07.jpg

    WARNING: Do not make this recipe. If you make ice cream and realize how ridiculously easy it is to make, you won’t stop. We certainly haven’t.
    That said, we love us some peanut butter. There was this time where we were eating only low-fat protein and veggies, and on a whim we ate a spoonful of natural peanut butter (salted, of course). The experience, when we hadn’t had a lot of fat for a while, was religious. The complexity of this everyday staple has led us to experiment with different formulations of the legume paste in ice cream.


    peanut-butter-ice-cream-03

    peanut-butter-ice-cream-03

    Eventually, we settled on a less-sweet version of the ice cream, preferring the sweetness to come from the add-ins. The added twist of extra salt gives it that extra savory oomph to sate our salty-tooth tastes. This version has Heath toffee chunks swirled in (we found these next to the chocolate chips), though we have experimented with chocolate bits and peanut butter cup pieces, both of which are delicious. And to make it all the more us, we covered it in a crispy dark chocolate shell that adds a distinct bitterness to this rich and creamy dessert.

    • 2 cups whipping cream (not heavy)
    • 1¼ cups milk
    • ½ cup granulated sugar
    • 1 heaping cup peanut butter
    • 2 tsp. good quality vanilla extract
    • 1 heaping teaspoon good sea salt
    • ½ cup Heath bits o’ brickle toffee pieces

    Dark chocolate shell

    • 2.5 oz. dark chocolate chips
    • ¼ cup coconut oil

    In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved, about 1–2 minutes. Add cream and vanilla extract and stir until mixed. Add milk and salt, and continue stirring until it is completely incorporated.


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    peanut-butter-ice-cream-04

    Prepare your ice cream maker, turn it on, and pour the ice cream into the machine. Churn according to your machine’s directions (usually 20–25 minutes). About 15 minutes in, pour the toffee pieces in and continue churning until you achieve a thick, soft serve consistency. Scrape into a freezer-safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight. Ice cream is better fresh, so consume within two weeks of making it, or it will become dense.


    peanut-butter-ice-cream-05

    peanut-butter-ice-cream-05


    peanut-butter-ice-cream-06

    peanut-butter-ice-cream-06

    Yields 1.5 quarts

    When you are ready to serve, heat the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave until thin and liquid. Let cool slightly. Pour slowly over the scooped ice cream, garnish with some big flake sea salt, and serve immediately. If the shell does not harden immediately, place the sundae in the freezer for about 30 seconds. Store any unused chocolate shell in the fridge.


    peanut-butter-ice-cream-08

    peanut-butter-ice-cream-08

  • Larb Burgers


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    All I can really glean from this recipe is that we come up with really good ideas when we’re drunk.
    So, one hot day recently, we were making larb and drinking a questionable amount of a tasty IPA (like you do), and then one of us—of course I can’t remember who—came up with the idea that instead of sticking to the plan and making salad, that we were actually craving burgers. Sure, it might have been the alcohol talking, but tell me, when you’re sloshed, what are you more inclined to eat: salad or a burger? Yeah. That’s what I thought you’d say. Glad we are all being honest here.

    Of course it was written in the stars that we had some leftover coconut milk in the fridge that we could transform into an amazing peanut sauce, and thus, the larb burger was born. After the incident, we made it three times in two weeks. We just couldn’t get it off our minds, and we also constructed some additions to spruce it up. What we’ve ended up with, we felt we really needed to share on the blog.

    For those of you who don’t know what larb is, it is ground chicken salad blended with Thai aromatics and chili, dressed in lime and fish sauce, then traditionally served on big leaves of lettuce. What we’ve done is form the ground chicken with aromatics into patties, then seared (or grilled) them up. We serve them on huge lettuce leaves, then smother those bitches in homemade peanut sauce. The burger is then topped with a fresh slaw dressed in lime, a juicy slice of mango, and crispy fried shallots. Wrap up burger. Put in face.

    You’re welcome.


    larb_burgers_03

    larb_burgers_03

    Larb Burgers

    • 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
    • 1 shallot, thickly sliced
    • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
    • 6–8 kaffir lime leaves
    • 1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped
    • 1 tbs. fish sauce
    • 2-inch piece of ginger or galangal, peeled, roughly chopped
    • ripe mango, peeled sliced
    • 2 small shallots, thinly sliced
    • green leaf lettuce

    Peanut Sauce

    • ½ 15-oz can coconut milk.
    • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
    • 2 tsp. fish sauce
    • ½ tsp. chili paste (or Sriracha)
    • 2 tsp. palm sugar simple syrup
    • ⅓ cup water

    Slaw

    • 1 cup cabbage, shredded
    • ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
    • ¼ cup mint, chopped
    • Juice of 1 lime
    • ½ tsp. fish sauce

    In a food processor, pulse shallot, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, fish sauce, and ginger or galangal until minced, scraping sides as needed. Add chicken and process until chicken is ground up and the aromatics are evenly distributed. Set aside to rest.

    In a small skillet, heat coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce, chili paste, and palm sugar simple syrup over low heat. Stir constantly until warmed through and it starts to thicken and eventually congeal. Remove from heat. Gently stir in water until a smooth paste. Set aside.

    Heat a large skillet to medium high heat and coat with oil. Form 6 patties from the chicken mixture and cook until done (160°F), about 5–7 minutes a side. Remove burgers from heat and set aside to rest. In the same pan, add a little more oil and toss in the sliced shallots. Fry until golden and crispy. Set aside on a plate to cool and crisp up.

    In a small bowl, combine cabbage, cilantro, mint, lime juice, and fish sauce. Set aside.

    Serve burgers immediately topped with peanut sauce, mango, slaw, and shallots.


    larb_burgers_01

    larb_burgers_01

    Yields 6 burgers.