I’m currently in awe of peanut powder. It has all the flavor of raw peanuts and peanut butter, but a powdered structure that is nothing short of food-witchcraft. Regular, sticky peanut butter has always been the go-to for concentrated flavor, but the its dense, oily texture can be a real hang-up when it comes to cooking and baking. To enjoy peanuts in ways you’ve only dreamed of, add peanut powder to your cooking toolkit.
What is peanut powder?
Peanut powder is made of defatted, pulverized peanuts. This glamorous description doesn’t exactly do justice to its flavor and capabilities, but I digress. The oil in peanuts is what makes peanut butter calorie dense, gives it that sticky consistency, and is what you see floating on top of some jars. Defatting it removes roughly 90% of this oil, making it dry enough to become powder. Peanut powder is different from powdered peanut butter, and ever so slightly different from peanut flour. Peanut powder is simply defatted peanuts ground into a fine powder, and with no other additives. Powdered peanut butter usually contains additives like sweeteners, salt, and maybe other flavors. Peanut flour can contain slightly more fat than the powder, however sometimes they’re the same, and it largely depends on the brands. I haven’t found the discrepancy to be more than a three percent difference. For our purposes, they act the same. Since you can use this flavorful dust in more than just desserts, I suggest giving yourself broader options and steering clear of the sweetened stuff.
Now that our pulverized peanuts are sorted, let the fun begin. You can add peanut powder to your cooking and baking in new ways since it won’t introduce large amounts of oil to your recipes, which can weigh them down or make an undesirable sticky consistency. You can mix it into a dry rub for smoked meats without having to commit to a thick sticky layer of peanut butter. Stir a bit of the powder into marinades, and it’ll add flavor and viscosity without overwhelming the thin, liquidy texture. Make a dipping sauce for meats or veggies, or add a peanut butter note to your Mrs. Buttersworth’s bacon vinaigrette. Add it to smoothies or oatmeal for a lower-fat option with full-peanut flavor. You can add potent peanut butter flavor to cake batters, frostings, and buttercreams without sacrificing the structural integrity of the mixture.
How to use peanut powder
For both sweet and savory application, start your powdered peanut explorations with these guidelines to ensure success. Start adding powder on the conservative side, taste it if you can, consider the consistency, and adjust from there. For dry rubs, keep the peanut powder to less than a quarter of the mixture. For example, for a spice mix that’s made up of ½ tablespoon paprika, ½ tablespoon chili powder, and ½ tablespoon of salt, add a ½ tablespoon of peanut powder, or less. When adding the powder to liquid mixtures, like marinades and dressings, start small and add small to keep tabs on how thick the mixture is getting. Taste it to see if it’s peanutty enough. If it’s not, then add more powder and adjust the wet ingredients to account for the change in thickness. I usually add a teaspoon at a time if I’m making a dressing or dip. For cake batters that make two nine-inch layers, add 1/4-1/3 cup of peanut powder to the dry ingredients and proceed as usual for a fluffy, flavorful cake.
Enjoy your newest “powder-tool” in your cooking toolshed. Chocolate-peanut butter lovers, take your new powdered peanut skills for a spin with this no-bake pie. The peanut flavor is meant to be a background singer to the chocolate, but the mixture is forgiving, so you can always add another tablespoon or two to bump up the nuttiness.
