April 9, 2008Tracking down a mystery recipeYesterday, I received an e-mail from blog reader Whitney, who has been craving a favorite treat from her childhood. Here's what Whitney had to say: Today I attended a wake and there on the dessert table were Peanut Butter Fingers...the exact same ones that the Salem schools used to serve every Friday on pizza day. Not only were they delicious but they took me way back (it's been many years since high school). I would love to have that recipe to make for my kids but I'm not having much luck searching online and the container they were in didn't have a name on it. Do you happen to have the recipe or could you point me in the right direction to possibly find it...and maybe the pizza recipe too? Well, I wrote Whitney back and asked her for a little more information about the dessert and her time in Salem schools. She said the fingers "looked like they were fixed in a sheet pan...they were flat and cut into small squares." The bottom of these dessert bars were peanut butter, chewy and made with oatmeal. The top was chocolatey, like icing. "I didn't enjoy school lunches much but I LOVED these. I was in Salem schools from 1980 to 1993 (which doesn't seem real to me somehow)," Whitney said. I found a similar recipe online, which I will attach below. But it calls for chocolate chips on top so it may not be the same. While I call Salem schools in an effort to track down this recipe, I thought I'd check with all of my wonderful readers to see if any of you remember a treat like these. Better yet, maybe one of you has the recipe! If you do, please be sure to let us know! Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Bars INGREDIENTS: 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk PREPARATION: Source: About.com/southernfood |
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Comments
[April 9, 2008 1:06 PM]
JenniferI happen to know somebody who has the recipe used by a local school system. I will see if I can talk her out of a copy.
[April 9, 2008 2:25 PM]
Jonathan BrownLindsey, If you do get the receipe from jennifer or other readers will you post it for us please? I remember Cave Spring Junior High(now CSMS) in 1987-1990 served something similar. I loved them. Thanks!!
[April 9, 2008 2:35 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/Absolutely!
[April 9, 2008 2:40 PM]
ErinAll the schools must've had the same recipe cause I remember them from Northside. Wafer steak sandwiches and those yummy peanut butter squares. Nothing in the cafeteria could beat them!
[April 9, 2008 3:50 PM]
JamieI have a recipe from Herman L. Horn's ( Roanoke County Schools) cookbook from a couple of years ago.
Peanut Butter Fingers
1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups quick cook oatmeal
*Mix all ingredients together and spread into large jelly roll pan. Bake @ 350 for about 20 mins or until golden brown. Frost with milk chocolate frosting.
***I halfed this( as this one must be how the did it in the cafeteria) and it fit a 13X9 jellyroll pan. I highly recommend using a Kitchen-aid mixer if you have one ! I also frosted mine with homemade chocolate frosting off the side of the Hershey's cocoa container.
[April 9, 2008 4:08 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/Jamie, that could be the one!!
The oats and peanut butter look right, and they're called the right thing! I wonder if the schools make the icing homemade or just buy the stuff in a can. Either one would work, I guess.
[April 9, 2008 7:25 PM]
JenniferYep, that's the one. I went to Herman L Horn and the teacher who has this recipe was a Roanoke County teacher, I believe. I would imagine that the hershey's frosting would probably be pretty close. Back then (80-87) they used to make a lot of stuff from scratch.
My favorite memory of school lunch back then was spaghetti day because they made these soft, melt in your mouth yeast rolls, and kept a pot of clarified butter on the line. If you wanted your roll buttered they split it right then and brushed it with hot butter...so good! I remember lunch was 75 cents and once everybody went through the line, you could go back for "extras" and rolls cost a nickel. I can't tell you how many kids would go back through the line and get 5 extra rolls with the quarter left over if mom gave you a dollar for lunch.
[April 10, 2008 9:40 AM]
WhitneyWOW! It looks like many of us remember eating and loving the same things! At Salem, the schools had these on Pizza day (Friday's). I was so disapointed to find out when I had lunch with my daughter that they no longer serve these.
Thanks, Lindsey, for posting this on your blog and for all the leg-work you did! And thanks to you too, Jamie and Jennifer for the recipe and confirmation of the recipe. I know my family and I will really enjoy trying these out!
[April 10, 2008 1:27 PM]
AutumnIt sounds as if you had really great school lunches around here! I grew up and went to school in the city of Norton. We didn't have the greatest lunches, but the chicken nuggets, spaghetti, and pizza were the greatest!
We did have these large cookies (personal pan pizza size) for sale every day, though. They were always so warm and gooey!!!