Peanut Butter Wafer Food

THIN CRISPY PEANUT WAFERS

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to center of oven (these will bake 1 sheet at a time).
• Preheat oven to 400°.
• If you have cookie sheets with only one raised rim (best for recipe) or use any cookie sheet turned upside down.
• Line sheets with foil, shiny side up. (Don't use heavyweight, or cookies won't bake well) set aside.
• Pour 1 cup of peanuts in bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade.
• Add a few tablespoons of the sugar and briefly pulse machine 10 times to chop nuts into coarse pieces.
• Some will be powdery, some coarse, and some whole, it is okay, set aside.
• Melt butter in a small pan over moderate heat; set aside for now.
• Combine sifted flour and baking soda; set aside.
• Place egg, milk, melted butter, and remaining sugar in small bowl of an electric mixer.
• Beat until mixed; add sifted dry ingredients and the peanuts. Beat again until mixed.
• Transfer to shallow bowl for ease in handling. Spray a foil-lined sheet with Pam.
• Place dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls (not heaping) on sheet, placing the mounds 3 inches apart. Try to keep shapes neat.
• Top each with a few of the peanuts (if you like or with as many as you can fit on the top each cookie).
• Bake 1 sheet at a time. After 5 minutes, reverse sheet front to back.
• Cookies will rise, spread out, then flatten into very thin wafers with bumpy tops.
• They will spread out to 3 1/2 to- 4 1/2-inches in diameter.
• Cookies should bake until golden brown, then remove from oven.
• If cookies have run into each other, cut apart immediately while very hot.
• Cool on sheet for 1 or 2 minutes, then slide foil off sheet.
• Let cookies stand until firm enough to be removed.
• Will be easy to peel the foil away from backs.

PEANUT BUTTER WAFERS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine all ingredients and knead by hand. Roll into 3/4-inch patty. Cut out wafers with a small round cutter. Or you can form small balls and flatten by hand.
• Bake for approximately 45 to 50 minutes or until brown on a baking sheet sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. Cool on a rack. Store in a sealed container. For an extra treat, dip cookies in skim milk and feed to dog.
• In a double boiler melt carob chips and oil together until smooth. After dipping wafers garnish with chopped coconut or chopped peanuts.

WAFERS

Steps:

• Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a bowl. Allow to stand for at least 3 hours. Butter some heated wafer irons (these are not waffle irons), by rubbing them with a small knob of butter wrapped in a piece of muslin. Pour 1 tablespoon of the batter on to the lower plate of the irons and close the upper plate tight. Cook the wafer on both sides for a few minutes over hot charcoal or over a low gas flame. When cooked, remove carefully from the irons.

PEANUT-BUTTER WAFER CAKE

Steps:

• Bring milk and cream to simmer in a heavy 1-quart saucepan over medium heat.
• Whisk egg and yolk in a medium bowl. Add sugar, cornstarch and flour, and whisk until very well incorporated and almost fluffy.
• Whisk hot milk mixture into egg mixture. Return mixture to saucepan, and return heat to medium. Boil 1 minute, whisking constantly, or until thickened. Remove from heat. Whisk peanut butter into hot pastry cream.
• Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl, stir in salt, then cover with plastic wrap directly on cream to prevent skin from forming. Chill at least 3 hours, or overnight.
• Prepare the cake layers: Bring a wide pot of shallow water to a very gentle simmer over low heat.
• Place 2/3 of chocolate shards plus solid shortening in a clean 10-inch skillet set over the gently simmering water, and melt slowly. Bring the mixture to 110 degrees, and stir well to create a glossy, uniform consistency. Seed in remaining chocolate shards, and stir until completely melted and glossy, and chocolate tempers to 91 degrees. Remove from heat or turn off simmering water (or both).
• Pulse peanuts in food processor until they're a coarse meal. Remove, and stir in confectioners' sugar.
• Drop one wafer sheet into chocolate, giving it a tiny swirl to make sure the entire surface underneath is coated. Retrieve the wafer with tongs, tweezers or two forks, and hover it over the chocolate until dripping stops, then invert wafer, chocolate face down, on a baker's rack set over parchment to "drain." You want a film of chocolate to glaze the waffling, but you don't want to fill the holes enough to pave them over entirely. Repeat with remaining wafer sheets, tempering the chocolate if needed. While chocolate is still tacky, turn wafers chocolate-side up to finish cooling. (Use an offset spatula if needed to gently release wafer from rack.) Before chocolate sets fully, heavily ring edges of two of the chocolate-dipped wafer sheets by sprinkling the prepared peanut mixture in a 1-inch rim. Allow to cool and harden in a cool, dry place.
• To assemble: Pipe or spread 1/3 of the peanut-butter pastry cream uniformly among three of the wafer sheets (on the chocolate-filmed side to prevent sogginess later), reserving one of the peanut-edged sheets as the topper.
• Refrigerate until ready to serve.
• When ready to serve, stack the sheets chocolate-side up, using the peanut-crusted sheet on the bottom, the other two plain sheets in between, and top with the last peanut-crusted chocolate wafer sheet.