This Sammy called The Elvis is sold at Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Shops. It is grilled PB Sammy with banana and honey and BACON!  At $8.50 a pop – this sammy is the best-selling item on the menu, with dozens ordered every day!  So if you enjoyed your Grilled PB&B Sammy from Tuesday, try it this weekend with a couple slices of bacon inside!!

Long Live The King!

♥ Kimberly

Over at the well-known and super trendy – Crumbs Bake Shop, they created a special cupcake of the month in honor of the King called -  Elvis cupcakes ($3.75), which are vanilla cake domes with banana flavored cream cheese in the center, swirls of peanut butter on top and a sprinkling of peanut butter chips. It’s not unusual for these or any of their specialty cupcakes to sell out, so if you’re in a celebratory mood, visit a bakery early.

I’ve come up with a copycat of the Elvis Cupcake…try it out!!

First make up a Vanilla Cupcake Mix (homemade recipe below or a store bought package works too)
Fill up your cupcake tins about 1/2 full
Spoon in a large dollop of Banana Cream Cheese Filling (see below)
Cover cupcake with thin another thin layer of Vanilla Cupcake Mix

Bake 20-25 mins at 350 (or according to directions)
Let cupcakes cool about 15 min
Frost with Krema PB Frosting and decorate with nuts or PB chips!

Vanilla Cupcake Mix:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.  In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Banana Cream Cheese Filling:

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 3 small ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In an electric mixer (or in large bowl with a spoon), mix all of the icing ingredients until well blended and smooth. If the icing is too runny, add a bit more cream cheese and confectioner’s sugar until it thickens.

Krema PB Frosting:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup Krema Creamy PB
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Mix sugar, PB, butter, vanilla and salt in electric mixer on medium-low speed until creamy.  Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

This is my cousin Meryn and her daughter with some chocolate cupcakes iced with this Krema PB Frosting recipe!!  So cute!

Happy PB Elvis Week!!!

♥ Kimberly

“In The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley, David Adler relates that young Elvis subsisted on a meager diet of bread, lard, greens, and peanut butter. According to his uncle Vester, little Elvis ‘could eat his weight in peanut butter and crackers’ and pitched a King-sized fit when Vester pretended to take them away.”

This quote is why I’ve decided today to pay homage to another favorite PB combination of The King’s: PB & Crackers.

Ahh…is there another more simple and delicate, yet satisfying and dynamic duo?  In this life?  You might be hard-pressed to find one that rivals the blissfulness of PB & Crackers.  And one of the best things about these two components are their equally long shelf life and lack of necessary refrigeration.  These loving companions can be your best friends in a power outage, or in your purse, or in your car, or in your desk, or on a picnic or a plane or a lunchbox….you get the idea.

Another fantabulous aspect of PB & Crackers is their versatility.  Do you prefer just a dab of PB on a huge cracker?  Or maybe you’re like me and smother your itty bitty cracker in large quantities of chunky Krema PB. Lee Zalben on seriouseats.com poetically poses this perfectly-fitting question,

“Do you have a peanut butter and crack(er) habit? Do you go for a prim and proper Carr’s water cracker, or do you go ga-ga for the buttery, flaky texture of a Ritz? Perhaps you like the multigrain goodness of a Triscuit, or the nutty crunch of a Wheat Thin? Or, maybe you even cross borders and reach for Wasa, the famous Swedish crispbread.”

So, how DO you DO PB & Crackers?  Has it been a long time since you relished in their taste-bud pleasing friendship?  Are you Lonesome Tonight? Go ahead.  Get out that jar of Krema PB and those graham crackers, turn on that Elvis song and rekindle that relationship.

The King and I guarantee – you won’t be sorry

♥ Kimberly

The story begins…

”On the night of February 1, 1976, Elvis Presley was at his home Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, entertaining Capt. Jerry Kennedy of the Denver, Colorado, police force, and Ron Pietrafeso of Colorado’s Strike Force Against Crime. The three men began discussing ‘the sandwich’ and Elvis decided he wanted one right then.”

Now what exactly is ‘the sandwich’ these men were referring to?  No, no.  Don’t guess.  I’ll just tell you: the Fool’s Gold Loaf, a PB Sammy specialty of The Colorado Mine Company. I’ll get to that later.

Let’s continue,

“The Mine Company was a five-star restaurant known for its rip-roaring parties and as the ‘place’ to be seen at the time. Elvis had been to the restaurant before while in Denver.  Kennedy and Pietrafeso were friends of the owners and hung out there often, so they were driven to the Memphis airport and boarded Elvis’s private jet, the Lisa Marie, and flew the two hours to Denver. When they arrived in Denver at 1:40 AM, the plane taxied to a special hangar where the passengers were greeted by Buck Scott, the owner of the Colorado Mine Company, and his wife Cindy who had brought 22 fresh Fool’s Gold Loaves for the men. They spent three hours in the hangar eating the sandwiches, washing them down with Perrier and champagne. Presley invited the pilots of the plane, Milo High and Elwood Davis, to join them. When they were done, they flew back to Memphis without ever having left the airport.”

Ummm…are you WOWed yet?  I know, right!?!  This story rocks!!

So what exactly IS this Fool’s Gold Loaf anyways?

“This extravagant, artery-blocking sandwich consisted of an entire loaf of bread, hollowed out, spread thickly with (an entire jar of smooth) peanut butter and (an entire jar of) blueberry jelly and filled with a pound of crisp fried bacon…The tab for the ‘King-sized’ expedition? About sixteen thousand dollars.”

What I love so much about this story is how evident Elvis’ love of PB Sammy’s are!!  (Mixed with his love of free spending )

Now, go ahead.  Try to make your own Fool’s Gold Loaf at home like these guys.
I dare you. But please, don’t forget to send me pictures afterward!!!

Ingredients:

-1 loaf of warmed, hollowed out white bread (fried in bacon grease if you’re going all out PB Elvis style )
-1 jar of blueberry jelly or grape jelly
-1 jar of Krema Creamy PB
-1 pound of lean, crisp bacon

Yikes!  Does your stomach hurt yet??

♥ Kimberly

Sources : wikepdia and epicurian.com

One such establishment is The Arcade Restaurant in Memphis, Tennessee.  It is Memphis’ oldest cafe – since 1919 and Elvis used to frequent this place back in the day!  This family-owned restaurant, full of old-time Memphis charm and multiple claims to Hollywood fame, continues to serve “Elvis’ favorite dish” in honor of their treasured heart-throb.  They call this PB Sammy, “Fried Peanut Butter ‘N’ Banana.”

The Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina offers a ‘Grilled PB&B’ Sammy on their kid’s menu.  ”An Elvis born favorite” they claim, this PB Sammy is made on Texas Toast with creamy PB, Bananas, and Tupelo Honey.  Tupelo Honey, of course, because Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi 75 years ago.

Make your own version of this signature PB Elvis Sammy : Grilled PB&B by following these directions…

Grilled PB&B Sammy Ingredients :
-1 small ripe banana
-2 slices of white bread
-2 T. all-natural Krema Creamy PB

Grilled PB&B Sammy Method :
1. Mash banana
2. Butter both sides of the bread
3. Lightly fry one side of each piece of bread in a frying pan on the stove (or toast it)
4. Spread PB on both sides of fried bread
5. Add banana/honey mash on top of PB
6. Close Sammy
7. Fry outside of bread on low until the bread is golden brown and the PB is warm and slightly runny
8. Place Sammy on a plate and cut on a diagonal

♥ Kimberly