April 2nd is National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day.
Sure, you could have a sandwich; but how about a PB & J pizza?
Peanut butter was considered a delicacy in the early 1900s. It was only served in New York City’s finest tea room, to an elite clientele.
A recipe in the May 1896 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine “urged homemakers to use a meat grinder to make peanut butter and spread the result on bread.”
That same year, in June, the culinary magazine Table Talk published a “peanut butter sandwich recipe.”
The earliest-known mention of peanut butter and jelly on bread seems to be by Julia Davis Chandler in 1901, in the Boston Cooking School Magazine of Culinary Science and Domestic Economics.
In the late 1920s, the price of peanut butter declined, and the sandwich became a popular choice for children.
In 1968, The J.M. Smucker Co. introduced Goober, a jar that combined alternating vertical stripes of peanut butter and jelly. You can still find it on Amazon and elsewhere [source].
HOW TO MAKE A PEANUT BUTTER & JELLY PIZZA
Substitute the sandwich bread for a pizza crust, and you’re halfway there. A 12″ crust provides 4-6 servings.
You may have seen PB&J dessert pizzas on a pizza crust. If you want one here’s a recipe, but we’re sticking with the PB & J.
In order to have the most artistic presentation, use jelly instead of jam or preserves, and pipe it on. Before adding it to the piping bag (or plastic food storage bag), warm the jar slightly to make the jelly easier to pipe.
You can pipe it however you want. Not having the skill to make these concentric circles, we did a Jackson Pollack design, Zigzags or stripes also work.
Ingredients
1 plain prepared pizza crust
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup jelly (grape, raspberry, strawberry)
Optional garnish: banana, sliced (the “pepperoni”)
Optional garnish: vanilla yogurt (the “mozzarella”)
Preparation
1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Place the pizza dough on a cookie sheet or in a pizza pan. Pierce the dough in 10 places with a fork.
2. MICROWAVE the jar of peanut butter with the lid off for 30-45 seconds, or until the peanut butter has runny consistency.
3. POUR a small amount of peanut butter over the crust. Spread it with a knife until the dough is lightly coated.
4. WARM the preserves for for 30-45 seconds,, also with the top off, and place it the runny jelly in a piping bag or a food storage bag with a small snip off one of the bottom corners. Pipe the jelly on top of the peanut butter.
5. TOP with the banana “pepperoni” and drizzle lightly with the yogurt “mozzarella.”
6. BAKE the pizza for 8-10 minutes, keeping an eye on it. When the crust is golden brown and the jelly is bubbling, the pizza is done.
7. LET COOL until it’s easy to cut. Serve while it’s still warm.
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[1] This variation is from Nicole at Heat Oven To 350. See her recipe, which is slightly different, to learn the easy way to make the jelly design (photo © Heat Oven To 350).
[2] Trish at Mom On Timeout makes her pizza with a sugar dough crust. She also piped the jelly in concentric circles. Here’s her recipe (photo © Mom On Timeout).
[3] Goober Peanut Butter & Jelly, available with grape jelly or strawberry jam (photo © Smucker’s).
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