Spooky Halloween SpiderWeb Pizza featuring Jif’s® New Cashew Nut Butter

As part of a sponsored post with the Jif® Almond & Cashew Butter “Mix Up Mealtime” campaign, for The J.M. Smucker Company, I had so much fun creating a Spooky Halloween SpiderWeb Pizza that brought my daughter into the kitchen with me for family time.

We all know that “Choosy Mothers Choose Jif”, right? Well, Jif® has expanded their line of products to include brand new nut butters, different than the traditional peanut butter.

I’m talking about Almond and Cashew Butters.  Have you tried them?

This week I headed into the kitchen with the new Jif Cashew Butter, available in both creamy and crunchy.  I wanted to mix things up a bit.

So many kids (and adults) love their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  My daughter is no different.  In fact, she eats it regularly at school for lunch.  It’s easy and packed with protein.

But even kids do well when we shake things up a bit.  So I decided to make a few changes:

1. Use Jif Cashew Butter instead of Peanut Butter
2. Make a Nut Butter Pizza instead of a traditional Sandwich
3. Create with a Halloween theme

Who needs cheese and pepperoni when you can have fun like this? Yes, a Spooky Halloween SpiderWeb Pizza!

Whether for lunch, dinner or for an afternoon snack, this creative pizza will get kids excited about ditching their sandwiches.

But sometimes it can be hard to come up with new ideas so that you can mix up mealtime.  Here are just a few tips I try and remember:

• Get inspiration from holidays coming up
• Keep it simple – there’s no need to buy rare ingredients.  Many times all you need is to look at a recipe or an ingredient in a new way.
• Bring the kids into the kitchen – sometimes this is all you need for a change of pace. They’ll enjoy measuring and the inevitable taste-testing.

 

We needed a quick and easy after school snack, so I didn’t make homemade dough (though I’ve been known too).  We used a ready to bake pizza dough and I quickly reshaped it since it rolled out in the shape of a rectangle.  We were making a spiderweb, so that just wouldn’t do.

I figured since she has a bit of Italian in her blood, someone should have a try at the dough.  She had so much fun, not to mention it taught her a bit of patience.  Rolling dough isn’t the easiest task.  Using a pizza stone definitely helped though.

A quick bake at 400 degrees in the oven and then it needed to be cooled completely.  Unlike traditional pizzas, all the toppings would be put on afterwards.
After the pizza crust cooled, it was time to spread a thin layer of the new Jif Cashew Butter, made from roasted cashews.  We chose Creamy simply for the texture on the pizza.  We opened the jar and it was ready to spread.  No need to stir – love that!

 

Once the Cashew Butter was spread, I added Smuckers® Blackberry Spreadable Fruit (for the dark color effect) into a baggie.  I then cut off the tip of a corner of the baggie, so as to use it like I was piping frosting.

To Make the SpiderWeb Effect:

Pipe concentric circles around the pizza with the fruit spread-filled baggie

Starting in the middle of the pizza, take a clean knife and drag in a straight line to the edge.  Repeat ever couple inches, until you’ve made it entirely around the pizza.

Add a spider just for fun!

So, what do you think?

As for her, she loves it!

Be sure to follow Jif on Facebook and Pinterest for inspiration and ideas!

©/® The J.M. Smucker Company.