Peanut Butter and Jelly Parfaits

Those of you who grew up in the US probably saw your fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grape jelly in my case.  And for all our sophisticated, complex, gourmet sandwiches with the fancy crusty bread, I'll bet a whole lot of us still find occasional comfort in a pb & j on soft white bread...peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth...  I've been told that most of the rest of the world doesn't understand the allure of peanut butter but that just means more for me us!

Sweetening peanut butter and using it in desserts is not a new idea and we all know how amazing it is with chocolate.  But I was in the mood for pb & j.  I'd also recently gotten a carton of various cookies to sample from the good folks at Duchy Originals and I knew right away what I was going to do with them.  That is, after we finished taste testing several one of each.  The samples included All Butter Shortbread (always my favorite), Stem Ginger Shortbread (Brian's all time fave), Lemon Butter Shortbread (so good with tea) and Oaten Biscuits, fairly savory and a good pairing with some sharp cheese...maybe a glass of wine...

But we're not here to discuss wine.  We're here to discuss peanut butter.  I decided to make pb & j parfaits and crumble up the shortbread to use as layers in between.  You don't have to put the dessert in jars although...why not?  But I actually had a reason apart from cuteness.  These parfaits made for perfect portable picnic treats!  Of course you can use any butter cookie or even crushed graham crackers instead of the shortbread but the Duchy ones sure were good.  Enjoy!



Ingredients
4 All butter shortbread cookies
1/2 Cup jam (your favorite flavor)
1 Tablespoon water
1/2 Cup peanut butter
2 oz. Cream cheese
1/2 Cup powdered sugar
1/4 Cup milk
2 Tablespoons peanut butter chips
2 Tablespoons salted peanuts, chopped (optional)
2 Mason jars (8 oz. each)
Large pinch of salt

Place the cookies in a plastic bag and crumble them with your hands or by using a rolling pin or even a can of beans.  The cookies can have a few chunks left.  In a small bowl, combine the jam with the water and warm very slightly in the microwave.  In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar, add the peanut butter and milk and whisk until completely smooth and combined.  Mix in a pinch of salt and taste to see if you'd like to add more.  Remember that the cookies and jam are very sweet so the peanut butter mixture should have a good bit of savory saltiness to it.

Layer the bottom of the jars with1/4 of the cookie mixture in each jar.  Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the jam into each jar and top with a quarter of the peanut butter chips in each.  Add about a quarter of the peanut butter mixture into each jar, top with the remaining cookies, jam, chips and peanut butter.  Sprinkle on the salted peanuts, if desired.


Note that Duchy provided me with samples of their cookie products but I was under no obligation to review them or use them in a recipe.  I was not compensated in any other way and my opinions and recipes are my own.