Behind the Scenes | Food Finds | Pantry Essentials
For our December 2009 Taste Test column, we sampled 16 different peanut butters over the course of four days. The results may surprise you (as they did us). Some staffers decided to ditch their household favorite for the brands that performed best in our blind taste test.The winners:
- Best Crunchy -- TIE!: Jif and Skippy
- Best Creamy: Skippy
- Best Natural Creamy: Adams
- Best Natural Crunchy: Krema
Read more about the winners in this story.
We took it a step further with a peanut butter cookie bake-off. We tested the four top brands with a very basic, no-frills recipe: 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1 egg. The cookies were surprisingly different.
Skippy Creamy won top honors, producing a nice balance between salty and sweet. "The peanut butter seemed a little saltier," says Senior Food Editor Ann Taylor Pittman. "It made the flavor more rounded, not too over-the-top sweet."
The result was a very classic peanut butter cookie that lived up to our childhood cookie standards. "They reminded us all of school cookies," says Test Kitchens Director Vanesssa Johnson. "Other lost their nuttiness."
Interestingly, natural peanut butters produced cloyingly sweet cookies, possibly because they contain less (or no) salt compared to other brands. (Salt helps to balance the natural sweetness of the peanuts.) Natural peanut butters also produced a slightly denser texture and needed to cook a little longer -- an extra minute or two. While we don't recommend natural peanut butters for baking, they are great in sates and other cooked recipes.
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thanks for ready meals recipes article post , this article i gain some cooking tips and i improve our cooking method.
please post other related post . thanks in advance
Hi there! Thanks for the peanut butter test! Just wondering - did you use regular Skippy or the all natural version? Skippy's all natural peanut butter is fantastic and has less sugar/ingredients than the regular version. And, you don't have to stir it!
What about Smucker's Natural? I use them a lot - they didn't produce good results?
Thanks for the photos. It helps see the end product. Peanut better is delicious but I see few recipes with that. Your post will make the ingredient popular.
I really like using the organic crunchy peanut butter, it tastes richer somehow.
yummy, I am now officially sold on peanut butter cookies.
I like the Krema Natural Crunchy, It has no salt and is very healthy for you, which makes eating the cookies that much better.
My personally best - Best Natural Crunchy: Krema! Really tasty!
I have a problem with my cookies not tasting like peanut butter. Any tips? I've tried Jiff, Skippy, Laura Scutters (with the oil on top) and they still don't taste right. Someone help....please.
Had no idea you could make cookies with such a simple recipe! They turn out great too!
Had no idea you could make cookies with such a simple recipe! They turn out great too!
Peanut butter cookies are pretty tasty, but you know whats even better? Pnut butter chococalte chip (creamy skippy based, imho)!
It has no salt and is very healthy for you, which makes eating the cookies that much better.
It helps see the end product. Peanut better is delicious but I see few recipes with that.
I really enjoyed this post. You describe this topic very well. I really enjoy reading your blog and I will definitely bookmark it! Keep up the interesting posts!
