Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Month! Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love peanut butter? Now that you have an excuse to eat even more peanut butter this month, check out some of these fabulous peanut butter recipes that you can easily make!
Don’t want to eat peanut butter? Here are five other things you can do with peanut butter so you can still enjoy the month.
Peanut Butter Bars
Ready in: 1 hour, 25 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons peanut butter
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter or margarine, graham cracker crumbs, confectioner’s sugar and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9×13 inch pan.
2. Melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter in a metal bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares.
Peanut Soba Noodle Salad
Ready in: 35 minutes
Soba Noodle Ingredients
Kosher salt
1 pound white soba noodles
Sesame oil
Peanut Dressing Ingredients
1/2 cup toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Sriracha
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 cup julienned carrots
1 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts
Directions
For the soba noodle salad: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the soba noodles for 6 to 7 minutes or until just tender (according to package directions). Leave 1/4 cup of the cooking water in the pot, then drain the rest and run the noodles under cool water to ensure they stay firm. Drizzle with a little sesame oil and toss so they don’t stick together. Set aside.
For the peanut dressing: Place the sesame oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and lightly sauté for about two minutes (take care to not overheat, as the sesame oil burns easily). You just want to gently warm and infuse the oil to cook the garlic and ginger. Add to a blender with the peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, Sriracha and reserved soba cooking water (hot). Blend until completely smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Mix the carrots and scallions with the noodles in a large mixing bowl. Dress with the peanut dressing then serve garnished with the chopped roasted peanuts.
Peanut Butter Cookies
Ready in: 27 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
1 1/3 cups baking sugar replacement (recommended: Splenda)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet.
In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1 cup sugar replacement, the egg, and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork, dipped in sugar replacement to prevent sticking, press a crisscross design on each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining sugar replacement. Allow them to cool slightly before removing from pan.