The peanut butter and jelly sandwich (affectionately called a PB&J) is a tasty American staple and makes a quick, easy lunch or snack. You can have it the traditional way or you can get creative put lots of fun, tasty treats in it. See Making a Basic Sandwich to get started with your delicious sandwich!
Step One
Collect your ingredients. You will want peanut butter, some jam or jelly, and some bread. You may also want to grab some butter, as butter can enhance the flavor of the sandwich. There are lots of different kinds of bread and spreads to choose from, so you'll have to do a little experimenting to know what you like.Lots of types of peanut butter come with lots of added sugar and partially hydrogenated oils that are bad for your health. If you're looking for a healthier option, try an organic peanut butter. Natural peanut butter may have a layer of oil on top, but if you carefully stir it in when you open in the jar and then keep the jar of peanut butter in the refrigerator, the oil will not separate out again.There are lots and lots of flavors for jellies and jams. The two most commonly used are grape and strawberry. However, you could branch out to a sharper taste like raspberry, or a mixture of several different kinds.For you bread you'll probably want something that doesn't overwhelm your other flavors (like a rye or sourdough), so you'll probably want to go for plain whole wheat or white.
Step Two
Spread peanut butter evenly onto one slice of bread using a knife. You'll decide how much peanut butter you want, but if you're going to be taking the sandwich somewhere, you'll probably want to do a little light on the peanut butter, otherwise it will get everywhere before you get to eat it.Stir your peanut butter beforehand to soften it and make it easier to spread on the bread slice. Another tip for spreading peanut butter, especially the kind with peanuts in it, is to put some of the peanut butter in a bowl and microwave it on high for about 20 seconds. It will spread on the bread like soft butter.If you do use butter, you'll put the butter on the same slice of bread as the peanut butter, before you put the peanut butter on.
Step Three
Press the two slices of bread together. To avoid having the peanut butter and jam run everywhere, do this quickly. A good way is to take both slices at the same time and quickly press them together.
Step Four
Cut the sandwich. The best way to cut the sandwich is diagonal, from one corner to another, giving you two triangle shaped pieces. Otherwise, you can cut directly across the sandwich, leaving you with two rectangular shaped pieces.