Unsalted natural peanut butter- what can I do with it?
I like natural peanut butter but prefer the salted variety. I mistakenly bought a jar of unsalted (bleh) and just can't bring myself to eat it. I might be able to choke it down with jelly or honey but I don't know if I can make it through the whole jar before it goes bad.
Can I use it in cookies or other baked goods just like regular peanut butter? I'm assuming it is an even swap but just want to make sure they are interchangeable without a loss of quality in the final product. I would welcome killer pb recipes to help me use this stuff up. Thanks!
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20 Comments:
Yes, you can use it in baked goods. If the recipe calls for salted peanut butter, just add a little extra salt and it should be fine.
I like kittee's (http://www.pakupaku.info and http://kitteekake.blogspot.com/) peanut butter fudge. It's so easy. Put one cup of peanut butter in a bowl, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. In a separate pot on the stove, bring 2 cups of sugar plus 1/2 cup water to a boil then let it boil one minute (to 240 degrees). Pour the sugar into the peanut butter, stir quickly, and pour into a pan to set. It sets up fast!
Other ideas:
- Peanut butter granola (I like the recipe on Have Cake, Will Travel)
- African peanut stew
- homemade peanut butter cups or peanut butter truffles
- buckeye balls
- peanut butter cookies
- peanut butter pie
- peanut butter bomb cupcakes
KarynMC at 11:23AM on 01/30/09
I don't know about baking with peanut butter, as I actually don't think I've ever done it, but I will say that I think your peanut butter would be PERFECT in cold sesame-peanut noodles. I use Nigella's recipe, and it's really good. I would just check the sauce to see if it doesn't need some extra soy sauce.
Kerry Saretsky at 11:35AM on 01/30/09
make some rice krsipies treats with it... i use almond butter to replace the marshmallows, but I am sure it will work out with your peanut butter just the same...
Good Luck.
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 12:39PM on 01/30/09
Add salt? After all, peanut butter is nothing more than ground-up peanuts (with some additives, depending on brand). If mixing salt in by hand isn't going to work, dump the stuff in the food processor and season to taste. If it still doesn't seem right, you may be missing the sweetener that many brands use. Add some honey, maybe. Or sugar. Brown sugar. Go crazy, you've got nothing to lose. Add cayenne pepper, maple syrup, or whatever you think will be interesting.
As far as baking, it will probably work. But most recipes are written for the more commercial peanut butters, and some of the natural ones are a lot softer/looser. So if you're doing cookies, you may get a different result -- probably a looser dough that might spread more. Not necessarily a bad thing, but maybe not what you expect. It might work better in a cake or bready type thing.
dbcurrie at 1:13PM on 01/30/09
Did you already open it? If not, you could always bring it back to the store and swap it out for the right thing.
Bakerloo Line at 2:00PM on 01/30/09
Definitely any kind of Thai or African peanut sauce. I don't see a problem baking cookies with it, but you might want to google a recipe that specifically calls for natural or organic peanut butter.
gentlyferal at 4:12PM on 01/30/09
Use it to get gum out of your hair. ;)
carolrsfMISSESTEXAS at 5:25PM on 01/30/09
Have you tasted it yet--if I didn't want to eat it and hadn't opened it I would take it back, which I have done on a couple of occasions?
I eat Crazy Richard's Peanut Butter which has a very rich, roasted taste that tastes salty even though there is no salt. If I mix natural pb well I usually don't have trouble using it in most pb recipes. The only ones to avoid are the ones that say not to use natural pb, which tends to be drier and less evenly textured, which can upset the chemistry of some baking recipes that use it as a 'ribbon' like pb brownies.
HeartofGlass at 6:36PM on 01/30/09
I second the savory cooking ideas. There are some fantastic African peanut butter stew recipes out there. Also a great one with spinach, tomato and unsweetened peanut butter.
Thai and Moroccan also have some great recipes.
In baking also..all kind of cookies and cakes and cheesecakes etc. Just add extra salt if needed.
Yum...
sadiepix at 8:43PM on 01/30/09
When my mom and I dont by peanut butter from the store we make our own. The recipe is
planters roasted peanuts
honey
flax seed
wheat germ
olive oil
Last we put it in our food processer.
From Donnie's one daughter
donnie at 10:17PM on 01/30/09
My recipe for getting rid of this peanut butter:
Grab spoon. Scoop peanut butter. Drizzle with honey. Eat.
Repeat once or twice a day until gone. Or if you're like me, repeat until half of the peanut butter is gone in one sitting and you feel sick.
phenosteve at 1:21AM on 01/31/09
I'm with dbcurrie; salt, food processor, you'll never know the difference. Just make sure you add the salt incrementally - I dumped too much in once and had to throw the whole jar away.
Otherwise, you could make peanutbutter cookies and mail them to me :-)
cowprintrabbit at 2:09AM on 01/31/09
I made that mistake once too...ick. I ultimately ended up giving it to the birds by smearing it on pinecones and hanging them off my bird feeders. The cardinals, chickadees and nuthatches were in heaven...
BruinsMom at 1:16PM on 01/31/09
I would melt some peanut butter (in a silcone coated pan) and melt in a good amount of your favorite salt. Then I would incrementally add that to the peanut butter in the food processor until I got the taste I wanted. Might blend better. Throw out what's left of the extra salty batch.
PerkyMac at 2:11PM on 01/31/09
@dd ~ your homemade peanut butter recipe sounds healthy and delicious. In my opinion, the peanuts must be roasted first. Are your roasted peanuts already salted? Your mother is so lucky to have your help in the kitchen and you are amazing, especially for a 10 year old!
PerkyMac at 2:14PM on 01/31/09
@ Perky Mac We dont have salt on the roasted the peanuts,but my mom adds sea salt. My mom has a shirt that says " I salt my own salt".
dd 450 at 7:23PM on 01/31/09
@dd ~ love it! You have an awesome mother, but I know you already know that. I love sea salt, too.
PerkyMac at 8:29PM on 01/31/09
Put it on the dog's nose to keep it from barking.
Keight at 10:06PM on 01/31/09
Funny you should ask about the "even exchange" of natural PB with commercial - I've actually seen recipes that state not to use natural PB. Be careful which recipes you try.
You can use your PB for a satay.
As for me, I like it best on bread. Sometimes I find the plain PB (no salt) unpalatable and will toss it in my FP with organic honey. It's much tastier to me mixed with a sweetener.
therealchiffonade at 1:41PM on 02/01/09
I did open it and taste it which is what prompted me to this post. I've had other unsalted pb before and it was ok. I think I just don't care for this particular brand.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm sure pb cookies and/or fudge would be the most popular in my household but if I get the time and energy I might try something more exotic!
@Keight- oh jeez, are you one of my neighbors?? I have two rat terrier mixes that bark at the slightest movement outside. They both love peanut butter so it sounds like a great trick, but I'd be going through tubs of it every week just trying to keep them quiet! Ha!
AuntJone at 11:57AM on 02/02/09