In 1918, Emma Curtis, a Massachusetts entrepreneur, published a recipe for the “Liberty Sandwich” — marshmallow creme and peanut butter between two slices of bread — in a booklet of recipes advertising the Snowflake Marshmallow Creme she and her brother, Armory Curtis, manufactured in their kitchen.

While food historians attribute the invention of marshmallow creme to another Massachusetts man named Archibald Query, Curtis’ “Liberty Sandwich” is thought to be the first of its kind.

Why the patriotic name? One explanation is that during World War I, Americans were rationing valuable food items like meat, and eating a meatless sandwich was a way to show support. Another is that the Curtis siblings were descendants of the Revolutionary hero Paul Revere.

The Fluffernutter name — a registered trademark — came about much later in 1960. At that time, an advertising agency for a marshmallow creme company owned by H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower, who bought Query’s recipe, invented the name to market the sandwich. Thus, the fluffernutter was born.

Durkee and Mower still make Fluff. Every year, Somerville, Massachusetts, where Query was from, celebrates the invention of gooey marshmallow spread with a Fluff Festival.

This sandwich was one my parents made for me and I ate for every lunch from fourth to eighth grade. I’d open my lunch box and see that the marshmallow had smeared all over the plastic bag. It was messy, but nothing was better than licking the sticky marshmallow off my finger tips.

When I make a Fluffernutter for myself, I start by spreading creamy peanut butter on one piece of the thickest white sandwich bread I can find. I spread an equal amount of Fluff on another slice, then smoosh them together. When you cut it in half, you want to see an even portion of Fluff resting on the peanut butter. It’s sweet, simple, delicious and possibly the greatest childhood sandwich ever.

Even today, I still enjoy these sandwiches. It brings me back to the nostalgic memories of my elementary school self at lunch with creamy peanut butter and sticky marshmallow all over my face.

Ingredients:
2 thick cuts of white bread
Peanut butter brand of your choosing
Marshmallow fluff

Directions: Spread peanut butter on one slice of bread. Spread an equal amount of marshmallow creme on the second slice of bread. Close the sandwich together so that the peanut butter and marshmallow creme are together in the middle of the sandwich. Cut the sandwich in half and enjoy the nostalgic taste.