The ultimate PB&J
Once again, homemade wins out: Simple, fast, and just better.
Consider this our back to school post ; ) A love letter to one of the all time great sandwiches, made our way, from scratch. I’ve been making my own peanut butter for years now. I buy a large bag of unsalted peanuts either on line or via a bulk bin and grind them up my food processor with nothing more than salt. Seriously, that’s it—it’s not more complicated than that. No one can believe it when I tell them that and when they try it themselves they wonder why they’ve been buying peanut butter all these years. The other beautiful thing is that this way you can control the salt and also the texture. If you like it slightly chunky, blend it less, if you like it silky smooth, almost pourable, keep blending. The final product doesn’t separate, no stirring needed. You can store it in the fridge if your kitchen is warm and you don’t eat it often but in my house, it never lasts more than a couple of weeks so we keep in our pantry to retain it’s luscious consistency.
Jam, preferably homemade (see our quick jam recipe here), is of course a great match for homemade peanut butter but if you really want to enter sandwich nirvana, roast some grapes. I absolutely swoon for Concord grapes, but any red grape variety will work here. Again, the method couldn’t be simpler: Toss grapes with a bit of oil and salt (don’t even bother to take them off the vine) then roast until jammy and collapsed. Fork them off the stems and onto your peanut butter-slathered toast and enjoy! Trust: you’ll never go back.
Homemade Peanut Butter
Makes 1 3/4 cups
1 lb. (3 1/2 cups) roasted, unsalted shelled peanuts
1 teaspoon salt (or more if needed)
Place peanuts and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until desired consistency is reached. Note: on the way to becoming peanut butter, peanuts will transform from crumbs to a ball to a textured paste to a silky smooth spread. You choose when to stop! Adjust salt to your taste!
Roasted Grapes
Fabulous on peanut butter but also great over ice cream or alongside a cheeseboard.
1 pound red grapes, any variety
1 tablespoon neutral-tasting oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Add red grapes to a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt. Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer (cut apart bunches if needed to get mostly all the grapes in a single layer).
Bake until the grapes start to burst and most have blistered skin and have shrunk in size, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly.
Use a fork to remove grapes from stems and mash on peanut butter-topped bread. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.