Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Tart

Elvis Presley was noted for many things, among them his beautiful baritone, his white jumpsuits, his gyrations, and his beloved grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Since I obsess about food, let's focus on those sandwiches, shall we?

This is my final entry into Project PB&J - a contest for food bloggers which is being hosted by my friend Cindy of Once Upon a Loaf and her friend Christina of She Runs, She Eats.  The competition is in honor of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, as well as Cindy's birthday, on April 2; and the rules required preparing a sandwich and/or a baked good with a nut butter and a jelly/jam or fruit.

So, as I thought of all the variations on the theme of peanut butter paired with fruit, how could I not think of Elvis' favorite treat?  And yet, that particular pb&j has already been done, hasn't it?  Hmmm ....

But it could be transformed into a different entity, couldn't it, taking the essential components and whirling them in my brain until I devised a different concoction with those flavors ...?

And so, I settled upon a dessert ... a dessert with a peanut butter-flavored crust ... a dessert with a peanut butter-flavored filling ... a dessert with a peanut butter-flavored topping ... and a dessert with bananas happily mixed in.

Thus, I present to you ... the Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Tart!

Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Tart


Crust:
1-1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons ice water


In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and salt.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles meal.  Mix in the peanut butter with a fork.  Add water 1 tablespoon at a time and stir with a fork; then knead gently until the mixture comes together.  Form dough into a ball, flatten into a disc, and wrap in plastic; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F.  On a lightly floured countertop, roll out dough to a 12" round.  Place dough into a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom or into a 9" pie pan; trim edges.

Place a sheet of foil into the crust and fill with dry beans.  Place the tart pan onto a baking sheet; bake for 15 minutes, until the crust is set.  Remove foil and beans, bake for 5 more minutes until the crust is cooked, then let crust cool completely.

Filling:
2 cups Breyer's Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream, very soft
3 small bananas, sliced thin
1/3 cup Nutella
1/4 cup peanut butter-flavored Multi Grain Cheerios, ground (a fabulous marketing gift to play with!)
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, ground
whipped cream, if desired

Spread the ice cream into the prepared crust; top with the sliced bananas, then freeze for 45 minutes until the ice cream is mostly set.

Spread the Nutella over the bananas, swirling it over the top.  (If the ice cream mingles with the Nutella, it won't hurt anything ... I know from personal experience!)  Combine the Cheerios and peanuts, then sprinkle over the top of the tart.  Freeze for at least 3 hours until firmly set.

Let the tart rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Makes 12 servings.  Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Be sure you play Elvis tunes while you prepare this.  Just as you should listen to arias while cooking Italian food, you need to listen to the King while making this tart in his honor!  Infuse your food with the appropriate spirit ....

Peanutty Macaroons

Most people think that macaroons are chewy spherical cookies made with coconut.  But this is only one variation on the theme.  Macaroons are actually more generic - they're cookies made with beaten egg whites and sugar, with either ground nuts or coconut stirred in before baking; they don't usually contain flour.

And don't even start the "macaroon" vs. "macaron" debate, as the latter are an entirely different confection of great delicacy!  Macaroons are simple cookies, but much loved.

Today, I'm offering macaroons ... but they're not quite like any you've eaten before, I'm sure.  Because I made these as an entry for Project PB&J - a contest for food bloggers which is being hosted by my friend Cindy of Once Upon a Loaf and her friend Christina of She Runs, She Eats.  The competition is in honor of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, and required preparing a sandwich and/or a baked good with a nut butter and a jelly/jam or fruit.

So, because I made these for Project PB&J, they include peanuts rather than either almonds or coconut; and they also have a little dollop of fruit - the charoset I offered in yesterday's post.  I met the basic requirements, and then found that the end result more than transcends its simple ingredients: these cookies are so, so good!

They're chewy, and there is an intense peanut flavor since ground peanuts provide the bulk of the cookies' substance; the sweetness of the date-fig fruit mixture complements the nuts perfectly.  And I have to admit that I eat them by nibbling along the perimeter, before finishing off the last center bite with an enormous proportion of fruit-to-cookie.

These macaroons may seem simple and plain, but they are such a fabulously addictive treat!

Peanutty Macaroons

2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup dry roasted peanuts, ground
1/2 cup date-fig charoset (see yesterday's post)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with lightly greased foil.

In a medium bowl, stir together the egg yolks, peanut butter, sugar, and ground peanuts.  In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks; fold them into the peanut mixture.

Place the batter into 12 mounds on the baking sheet.  Place a generous teaspoon of charoset into the center of each mound.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until the macaroons are set and just golden along the edges.

Carefully remove the macaroons from the foil and cool them on a rack.

Makes 12 macaroons.

Krispy Kreme Peanut Butter Dream Sandwich

Alright, let's get the obvious statement out of the way right from the beginning: this sandwich has no - and I do mean NO - redeeming nutritional value.  There's no arguing that peanut butter provides protein.  There's no rationalizing that apricots provide vitamins A and C.  There's fat, there's sugar, there's salt ... and lots of each.  Oy!

This sandwich is nothing but giddy, gleeful, obscene decadence!

I created this seductive little tidbit for Project PB&J - a contest for food bloggers which is being hosted by my friend Cindy (a former Ann Arborite, I must point out) of Once Upon a Loaf and her friend Christina of She Runs, She Eats.  The competition is in honor of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, as well as Cindy's birthday, on April 2.  What great excuses for a party, celebrating with everybody's favorite flavor combination!

The rules required preparing a sandwich and/or a baked good with a nut butter and a jelly/jam or fruit ... the critical ingredients in a PB&J, but with some room for variations on the theme.  I tried to think globally, since peanuts are an integral part of African cooking.  I tried to think of ways to modify classic desserts, such as the Austrian Sachertorte made with dense chocolate cake and apricot jam.

And then I came back to the sandwich's inherent identity; it just made sense to not riff into territory that was too terribly unfamiliar.  A PB&J is classic after all; at what point, I debated philosophically, does it cease being a PB&J if one tinkers too much ...?

And so, I kept to the basics.  I used peanut butter.  I used jelly.  I tossed a bit of Nutella into the mix because, frankly, one can rarely go wrong with Nutella; its chocolate and hazelnut flavors are both nice complements to the other two ingredients.

And then, the hedonism really kicked in.  What kind of bread to use?  Well, why use bread at all?  Jeremy loves Luther Burgers, named in honor of the late Luther Vandross, which use Krispy Kreme doughnuts as buns.  So, why not use a doughnut as bread?  And then - simply because it's been all the rage, and its saltiness and crispness would add flavor and texture to my concoction - I tossed in a little bit of bacon.  I'm smirking as I contemplate this notion, even though I know I should hang my head in shame.

This sandwich is ridiculously easy to make, which only enhances its beauty.  Cook up some bacon.  Schmear doughnut halves with yummy things.  Put it all together.  Grab some napkins.  Enjoy!

And enjoy this little ditty, too, whether you've seen it 149 times or have never been introduced to its odd charms:




Krispy Kreme Peanut Butter Dream Sandwich

4 Krispy Kreme doughnuts, halved
1/2 cup peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
1/4 cup Nutella
4 tablespoons apricot all-fruit spread
8 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked until crisp, halved

Place the tops and bottoms of the doughnuts onto a countertop.  Schmear each top with some of the peanut butter, dividing it evenly among the doughnuts.  Schmear the bottoms with Nutella, then schmear the apricot spread over the peanut butter.  Place the bacon onto the Nutella-covered portions, dividing it evenly among the doughnuts.  Put the tops and bottoms together to form 4 sandwiches.

Makes 4 sandwiches, serving 4-8 depending upon how much tolerance you have for such excess.