Amish Peanut Butter Spread Giveaway and Recipe

I discovered Kristen's Loving Our Simple Life blog today, and not a moment too soon! She's on vacation, where she's picked up some Amish treats including a jar of peanut butter spread--and is giving them away to her readers. Click on over and leave a comment to be entered.

And if you can't wait to try the spread, I've got a recipe that should take care of you. It's not Amish, but it is insanely easy.

Peanut Butter Spread

Ingredients
1 lb. creamy peanut butter
1 lb. marshmallow cream
2 c. Mrs. Butterworth's Original Maple Flavor Pancake Syrup
3/4 c. hot water

Directions
Whip all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Enjoy on bread, pancakes, biscuits, toast, muffins, crackers, or a spoon!

Peanut Butter Cookie Soap

I love trying out all the different soaps--people can be so creative! These soaps smell like peanut butter cookies, and look good enough to eat. I put one by my kitchen sink and love the way my hands feel and smell when I wash with it. Get yours at Sugarlane Soaps, $6.99 for a pack of six.

Martha's Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I found this recipe at Martha Stewart. At first I didn't care for it much, but I've discovered that by using a lot less salt, and refrigerating the bars before serving, they are very addictive. I've tweaked the recipe a bit here. If you try this one, I'll be interested to know what you think of it.


Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2-1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups your favorite jam or jelly
2/3 cup peanuts, roughly chopped

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan with butter and coat inside of pan with flour; set aside. Place butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter; beat until combined, about 2 minutes.
2. Whisk together salt, baking powder, and flour. Add to bowl of mixer on low speed; combine. Add vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of mixture to prepared pan; spread evenly. Stir jam to make it smooth and easier to spread, then spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Spoon remaining third of peanut-butter mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Press peanuts lightly into peanut butter mixture.
3. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Refrigerate for a chilly taste sensation.

JIF Sandwich Contest--For Kids Only

If you've got peanut butter lovers between the ages of 6 and 12, get them busy creating a peanut butter sandwich recipe. The grand prize in this contest is a $25,000 scholarship fund, so it's absolutely worth entering. And you get the added benefit of eating the peanut butter sandwiches! The contest ends November 14, 2008, so there's plenty of time to test a few different recipes. You can get the complete rules, entry form, and even check out past winning recipes at JIF.com.