Holidays are the time for family, friends, Jesus and lots of sugar. But, it's taken me almost thirty years to have enough culinary courage to attempt peanut butter roll by myself.
The backstory on this one comes from many Christmases growing up, and the multiple unsuccessful attempts to make peanut butter roll with my mom and sister. Every December, we would gather in the kitchen to make a multitude of holiday fare, but we could never get peanut butter roll to come out successfully. Either it was too sticky or came out as hard as a rock. My sister and I would always eat whatever concoction came forth because it was basically straight sugar and what kid passes on that? Until finally, my mother, who is a wonderful cook and baker, gave up. Since then, the delectable candy has been intimidating, and I've never attempted to make it until this year.
So interesting story that I've ran into when this initially was published as a list item and more recently when I've been talking about completing the task is most people have no idea what type of candy this is. In my sheltered Holiday experience, I just assumed peanut butter roll was a widely held Christmas tradition or in the very least most people knew what it was. But, I was wrong. I did some digging, and it looks like peanut butter roll originated in Kentucky as a economical sweet. A common substitution for some of the sugar in the recipe is potato, and I do remember several people from back home (which is a stone's throw from the KY border) who preferably made their peanut butter roll with the addition of potato. How anyone made the stuff before stand mixers, gas stoves and candy thermometers is beyond me.
Here was my first attempt at peanut butter roll:.
It turned out about the consistency of hot marshmallow cream :( And the day before I had ruined a batch of sugar cookie dough. I wasn't on a good roll. Normally, I'm a really good baker. I have a mean apple pie with pretty lattice crust, and my lemon cake is a labor of delicious, tart love. Here's the recipe. So after two failed sweet attempts in a row, I needed some help. I reached out to someone I knew was a killer peanut butter roll maker and got the scoop. After an altered recipe, a few tutorial videos and pictures, I tried again.
And here's the confectionery goodness in all its tasty glory.
While it isn't a perfect peanut butter roll and needs to be rolled thinner/less peanut butter, it tastes like heaven. A big thank you to Shawn for sharing all her peanut butter roll knowledge. It wouldn't have turned out without all your help. Will I make peanut butter roll again? Sure.....next Christmas.
The peanut butter roll is husband approved as well!
The backstory on this one comes from many Christmases growing up, and the multiple unsuccessful attempts to make peanut butter roll with my mom and sister. Every December, we would gather in the kitchen to make a multitude of holiday fare, but we could never get peanut butter roll to come out successfully. Either it was too sticky or came out as hard as a rock. My sister and I would always eat whatever concoction came forth because it was basically straight sugar and what kid passes on that? Until finally, my mother, who is a wonderful cook and baker, gave up. Since then, the delectable candy has been intimidating, and I've never attempted to make it until this year.
So interesting story that I've ran into when this initially was published as a list item and more recently when I've been talking about completing the task is most people have no idea what type of candy this is. In my sheltered Holiday experience, I just assumed peanut butter roll was a widely held Christmas tradition or in the very least most people knew what it was. But, I was wrong. I did some digging, and it looks like peanut butter roll originated in Kentucky as a economical sweet. A common substitution for some of the sugar in the recipe is potato, and I do remember several people from back home (which is a stone's throw from the KY border) who preferably made their peanut butter roll with the addition of potato. How anyone made the stuff before stand mixers, gas stoves and candy thermometers is beyond me.
Here was my first attempt at peanut butter roll:.It turned out about the consistency of hot marshmallow cream :( And the day before I had ruined a batch of sugar cookie dough. I wasn't on a good roll. Normally, I'm a really good baker. I have a mean apple pie with pretty lattice crust, and my lemon cake is a labor of delicious, tart love. Here's the recipe. So after two failed sweet attempts in a row, I needed some help. I reached out to someone I knew was a killer peanut butter roll maker and got the scoop. After an altered recipe, a few tutorial videos and pictures, I tried again.
And here's the confectionery goodness in all its tasty glory.
While it isn't a perfect peanut butter roll and needs to be rolled thinner/less peanut butter, it tastes like heaven. A big thank you to Shawn for sharing all her peanut butter roll knowledge. It wouldn't have turned out without all your help. Will I make peanut butter roll again? Sure.....next Christmas.
The peanut butter roll is husband approved as well!
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