Peanut Butter

Do you love Snickers bars but hate the crunch of all those peanuts? Well, first, the argument could definitely be made that you don’t like Snickers bars, but regardless, don’t worry: Snickers has you covered.

Nut butters are having a moment. The nut butter aisle now features spreads of every level of smoothness, from ethereal creamy to coarse cement; oil on top or no-stir blended; and nut varietals from the now almost pedestrian almond to cashew, sunflower, and hazelnut. Which doesn’t even touch on the flavored butters, enriched with various chocolates or cocoa products, blended with fruits, punched up with spices, sweetened with honey or maple.

This all began when my favorite XM radio station asked listeners to call in with weird sandwich combinations. When a caller disclosed they loved old school white bread sandwiches slathered with a layer of peanut butter, I totally agreed. But instead of topping it off with jelly, bananas, or even marshmallow fluff—they topped their beloved PB sandwich off with a spoonful of mayonnaise. Yes, mayonnaise.

Daniel Mallory Ortberg is beloved across the internet for his idiosyncratic, thorough wit, which brought us so much joy as it unfurled at The Toast, a now-defunct website Ortberg founded in 2013 with writer Nicole Cliffe. Subsequently, Ortberg took over the Dear Prudence role at Slate, and wrote Texts From Jane Eyre, a best-selling book based on material that was originally published on The Hairpin and The Toast.

The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is basically love squished between two pieces of bread. There is no sandwich more perfect. I bet if you close your eyes and think back to your favorite childhood lunch, it probably has peanut butter and jelly in it -- I know mine does! Growing up every summer my family and I went to the beach on my birthday. Among the packed lunch selections were turkey, ham, and PB & J. This was always an easy decision -- hands down, peanut butter and jelly (hold the sand). For all of you PB & J lovers out there, these 6 twists are just for you!

Ingredients

It's pretty much a universal thing, when you get home from a long day, the first thing you do is open the fridge, open the pantry, and assess the food situation.  If it looks bleak, things like this start running through your mind, "Should I have stopped and picked something up on the way home? Is any of this edible?