Put Peanut Butter in Everything
Not too long ago, the main options for peanut butter were limited to smooth or coarse peanut butter offered by a handful of familiar brands (or generic counterparts in stores). The reality is much crazier today. A wide variety of nuts and seeds can now be easily purchased as butter, which not only gave us access to more flavors, but also a boon for those with nut allergies.
One novelty in this area is peanut butter powder – the result of pressing roasted peanuts until most of the oil has been removed and then grinding it into a fine powder. Also called “PB2” (which, along with PBfit , is a major brand), peanut butter in powder was marketed as a low-calorie, fat-free version of the staple sandwich product. It’s also a bit like what it would have come up with in the 1950s when we were all preoccupied with processed foods with a long shelf life. (“Just add water, stir, and soon you’ll have your own delicious peanut butter-like food for all your snacks.”)
But suppose you somehow got a jar of powdered peanut butter and you don’t want to mix it with water and use it as a peanut butter substitute. What then? Here are some ways you can use the product to invigorate other foods, sauces, and snacks.
How to cook with peanut butter powder
When you think of peanut butter powder as a spice or flavoring rather than a less creamy substitute for something delicious, you’ll discover many opportunities to use it in your cooking and snacking. Not only will it give your meals a subtle nutty flavor, but in many cases it is much easier to work with, measure, and add to food than peanut butter. Here are some ideas:
- Salad dressing : Add about a teaspoon to the homemade vinaigrette and shake, adding more to taste if necessary.
- Yogurt : Sprinkle a little peanut butter powder over the yogurt and mix it with a little honey. (Or do the same with oatmeal.)
- Hummus : Out of tahini? Add about a tablespoon of powder to a batch of hummus.
- Sauces : Add peanut flavor to sweet and savory sauces . Add the powder gradually and keep sampling the sauce until you reach your desired nutty flavor level.
- Smoothie : All flavor and protein, but without spooning peanut butter into a blender.
- Soups : Add a tablespoon (or so) of the powder when making vegetable puree soup .
- As a filling : Sprinkle with ice cream, pudding, popcorn, bananas, etc.
And if that wasn’t clear already, peanut butter powder is still composed of peanuts and therefore unsafe for people with peanut allergies.