I Do Love Peanuts and Peanut Butter!

An e-friend in the UK asked "What is it with you guys doing strange things with peanut butter?" and I had to laugh. This was, of course, in response to yesterday's Halloween candy post in which one of the sweet items I featured were Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I have to say that peanut butter and how to use/enjoy it varies by the person. I survived my final year of High School eating two Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for my daily lunch. I love them. But I'm not fond of the variants the company has introduced to the market over the years. I'm a peanut butter cup purist. 

I admit to a great love for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I find
them tasty - great peanut butter and OK chocolate (I've had
better chocolate, but it's the right flavor and consistency
for the encased peanut butter spread). 

DH loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He only likes one particular brand of peanut butter, and it must be the extra chunky. I love chunky peanut butter myself, but I'll eat peanut butter and jelly, or I'll use honey or sometimes bananas instead of the jam. That's a total ICK! to DH who is a PB&J purist. 

I remember carrying PB&J sandwiches to school for lunch. If Mom
used grape jam, it would seep through and make the bread
purple in areas. I hated that so Mom used strawberry jam
instead. Less leakage and I've been a strawberry jam fan
ever since. 

Peanut butter is a butter - it's smooth, it's creamy, and it spreads onto bread and other bread-like products like crackers so easily. It's tasty and it can make a totally fabulous cookie (or biscuit as some of my UK friends might term it). A spoon full of peanut butter can be a great after-school snack, or a good watching TV snack. It can keep a kid busy licking for a half-hour or more. 

I love peanut butter straight from the jar, although I rarely
indulge. Commercially processed peanut butter is
homogenized and pasteurized, helping to keep it
free from decay longer. Home-made peanut butters
can be delicious, but make sure you eat those
quickly since they will break down and go bad. 

I'm extremely fond of peanuts and feel sorry for the many people throughout the world who are allergic to them. I'm sure some of those people are allergic to a wider spread of similar products, but the peanut is found in so many things and they have to be so careful, it's a minefield and so very dangerous to have that particular allergy. I'm grateful that among my allergies and sensitivities, growing broader and expanding as I grow older, that the peanut is not among them. It would be tragic! 

Peanut butter cookies are traditionally marked by the
crosshatch design of fork tines in the dough before
baking. It's a distinctive feature, and I don't think it's
essential to a correct bake, just a way to identify
the type of cookie in a rack of baked goods. 

On that note, I leave you with peanut food photos and a wish for a great day ahead of you. Enjoy your Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Under ideal conditions, our little shed will finally get its' final coat of paint this afternoon. We'll see if that actually happens. The skies may open up and the ground crack and swallow the shed completely ... LOL.