Peanut Butter Fudge

Every now and again, I go through my posts and add them to a file so I can easily find what recipes I have posted so I don't repeat them (unless they have undergone dramatic changes). I discovered I forgot to share the Peanut Butter Fudge recipe. I made it the same day I made the chocolate fudge. I think this recipe is the family favorite. The chocolate was good but they have been devouring the peanut butter. We are peanut butter sort of people so it makes since (their favorite cookie is my gluten free peanut butter cookies).
I made it with homemade evaporated milk.
Just a note about next week - I will not be posting next week but I will be experimenting and will have lots to share after the holidays.

Peanut Butter Fudge
¾ cup evaporated milk
2 cups sugar
2 TB butter
1 1/8 cups peanut butter
1 7oz marshmallow cream
1 teas vanilla
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, sugar and butter. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly and let boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla until well incorporated. Spread into greased 8x8 dish. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Peanut Brittle

My husband really wanted peanut brittle this year. I was able to get unsalted roasted peanuts (no raw) and thought about how to go about this. I decided to use my toffee recipe. We used Nucoa to make him a dairy free version. Because of this - I believe that the recipe needs stirring. Normally, one does not stir the toffee as it cooks but the nucoa did not exactly meld with the sugar. Stirring would have helped.

Peanut Brittle
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 TBS water
1 1/2 cups peanuts

Bring butter, sugar and water to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes until the color turns amber (290 on a thermometer). Stir in peanuts and pour into a greased cookie sheet. Let cool completely. Break into pieces and enjoy.

Southern Peanut Butter Pie

This is a family favorite but I haven't had a chance to work on pie experiments so I don't have a crust recipe and I am not sure there isn't anything I would change with this recipe to make it more healthy. I know pie is not always meant to be healthy but it should have something about it that makes us feel like we're nurturing more than our junk food genes. There's something about pie that brings us back to a more simple time - fruit pies cooling on the window sill. This pie is not so bad since it's packed with protein powered peanut butter. Use an all natural peanut butter and it would almost come across as a health food (almost).

Southern Peanut Butter Pie
9" pastry shell
3 eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teas vanilla
1 teas orange zest
1 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped.
Preheat oven to 400 - make sure shell has been refrigerated 1 hr. In bowl beat eggs until frothy. Add corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter, vanilla and zest. Beat until smooth. Stir in peanuts, the pour into shell. Bake for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 30 minutes. Cool thoroughly before cutting and serving.

note: I don't think I have ever added orange zest to this recipe and I can't tell you where I got it from.

Peanut Chicken

One of our staple sauces is peanut sauce on chicken. For me, this is a simple and tasty recipe. I don't put a lot of fuss into peanut sauce and it always turns out well.
Normally, I brown the chicken in a deep skillet. Add a can of coconut milk and a couple of dollops of peanut butter. I use a basic, cheap peanut butter. Sometimes I add a little sweet chili sauce for a bit of a kick.
Last night I put the chicken (usually boneless, skinless chicken breast but any chicken will do) in a 9x13 baking dish with any juices from the bag. I drizzled on sweet chili sauce and then dolloped the peanut butter here and there. About half way through I flipped over the chicken and stirred the peanut butter into the chicken juices. I had envisioned the peanut butter melting into everything making a sauce but it didn't until I stirred everything together. My father said it was the best peanut sauce he has ever had which just goes to show that simplicity is always better.
I serve this chicken over rice with a gluten free soy sauce.

For another twist you can add crushed pineapple to the coconut milk for the skillet chicken (and then make the peanut butter optional - for an island kick add a little rum).