Some of y’all might remember that Jim Bovard is a peanut butter connoisseur. I really like the stuff too, as long as we’re talking real peanut butter, the kind without added sugar and that requires stirring to get the peanut oil put back into suspension.
After my conversation with Jim turned to peanut butter, I began private negotiations to get some recipes out of him. His, er, terms being a little too high for me, I set out to create my own peanut buttery goodness. And I think I’ve done a good job with my first effort—a peanut butter frosting that’s easy, has only five ingredients, and tastes wonderful. Best of all, it doesn’t contain loads of confectioner’s sugar.
Sunni’s Peanut Butter Frosting recipe
1 C. best quality natural peanut butter, smooth or chunky (real PB, not processed stuff like Jif or Skippy), stirred thoroughly before measuring
1/4–1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 C. butter, barely softened
Add salt to peanut butter and stir well to blend. Taste and add more salt if necessary to heighten the peanut butter flavor. Add honey and vanilla; stir. Add butter and beat to combine well.
Makes enough frosting for one large sheet cake, or an 8– or 9-inch layer cake.
Notes: The texture of the butter is important for the overall texture of the frosting: if it’s too soft, the frosting will be soft as well; but if it's hard and cold, it will not blend well with the other ingredients. It should be just soft to the touch.
Don’t skimp on the salt! Natural peanut butter makers seem to have been thoroughly cowed by the salt ninnies; as a result their product often tastes dull. The right amount of salt perks the flavor right up and adds a lovely dimension to this frosting, while also helping to cut the sweetness.
Best (and Easiest) Peanut Butter Frosting I’ve Had
peanut butter tart?
This sounds like the makings of a peanut butter tart :-)
(We only buy the real stuff - where you can actually watch the peanuts go through a crusher etc, with nothing else added).
That might work
I suppose this could be the filling part of a peanut tart ... might be too sweet for that, and not substantial enough, though.
H.C., I have a wonderful recipe for peanut butter chiffon pie ... perhaps we can post/trade recipes at some point. I’d need to find my recipe, alas.
Alas Durn
If only that recipe had won the Pillsbury Bakeoff that year, everything would have worked out differently.
Your peanut butter frosting recipe looks great. My recipe was only for the cake - I relied on predictable rich chocolate frosting....
Your price would be different?
“If only,” eh? I’m a little afraid to ask, Jim!
I trust if you try the recipe you’ll let me know what you think. I’ve used it on a vanilla cake to which I added chocolate chips (which sank to the bottom, creating an interesting layer once the cake cooled), and a banana cake, both with good results. The snolfs didn’t care as much for the PBB combo, however.
Not too sweet
The honey does sweeten it considerably, Jim, but it’s a relatively small part of the frosting. As I said, the salt really helps to cut, as well as offset, the sweetness. And the honey should be the only source of sweetness—remember, there’s no powdered sugar adding its goopiness to this frosting, and the peanut butter shouldn’t have sugar in it either.
For anyone who’s wanting to tweak the recipe, though, here’s what I’d suggest: first try the frosting as is, but start with only a quarter cup of honey at first. If that doesn’t seem too sweet, add more until you reach your preferred taste. If you exceed your preferred sweetness, add either more peanut butter, or regular butter, to get it to your liking. (More butter will make for a stiffer icing as well, as long as the butter isn’t too soft when it’s added.) This recipe should be quite flexible.
Why call it "frosting?"
I only make about one or two cakes a year - and sometimes none - so frosting doesn't appeal to me much, but I can see a perfectly wonderful use for the recipe anyway!
Peanut butter of any kind packs a mighty punch of calories and fat, so I use it in tiny amounts, but indulge frequently. I've recently gone to buying the "old fashioned" kind with no additives, and have found it a bit difficult to use and quite frustrating at times because it's terribly hard to mix up the oil and peanuts once it's been refrigerated.
I most often use peanut butter on toast, and usually with honey, so if I make a small batch of this I'll have a better spread without having to stir up the whole jar of PB each time. Anyway, I'm going to try it.
I've got a terrific recipe for peanut butter cookies if you want it. My boys used to eat them by the carload. But, of course, that was back in the days when I could buy fresh ground peanut butter (nothing else in it) for about 17 cents a pound at the local 7th Day Adventist store. We got 10 pounds a month, and usually ran out before the next payday. :) I had two hungry boys and one husband to feed then.
Cuz that’s how I used it
Yah, I have the same problem with mixing real PB once it’s been opened and needs to be refrigerated. Maybe for your purposes a blend of just PB, honey, and salt would work best. Please let me know!
I’d love to see your cookie recipe. I have one I’ve used happily for years, but am always on the lookout for something better.
Mmmmmm, peanut butter! BTW,
Mmmmmm, peanut butter! BTW, back in the days when I was single, one of my criteria for potential mates was whether the lass in question liked peanut butter - and I won the heart of my spouse by making her a fluffy, frozen peanut butter pie. :)