Boy, we are in a peanut butter mood this month! Well, I’m actually in a peanut butter mood all the time. The secret to this peanut butter shortbread is that it features one of my favorite baking ingredients: powdered peanut butter. Because it’s very low in fat, powdered peanut butter can easily replace flour in a lot of baking recipes. I kinda think it’s an underrated ingredient!
If we were to add full-fat peanut butter to this recipe, we might have to mess around with the quantity of butter. In this recipe, we’re not adjusting the amount of butter, so it’s still the star of the show, but with a little something extra from the powdered peanut butter.
The ganache is a result of a “why not both” moment. When I was thinking about this recipe, I wanted to do a PB&J-inspired shortbread. (I won’t judge you if you totally skip the ganache, dollop your favorite Michigan-made jam on this shortbread, and call it a day.) However, I’ve also been wanting to dip things in dark chocolate lately. So I thought, why not do half dark chocolate ganache and half white chocolate raspberry ganache? I used freeze dried raspberries for the ganache and they gave a real punch of tart raspberry flavor. You can find these in most grocery stores.
Trust me, the sharpness from the raspberry, the depth of the chocolate, and the nuttiness from the peanut butter all pair together so well. Give this powdered peanut butter shortbread a go and let us know what you think!
Powdered Peanut Butter Shortbread with Double Ganache
This nutty shortbread uses two versions of homemade ganache to amp it up - gift to your sweetheart or just savor for yourself!
Ingredients
Shortbread
- 8 tbsp (113g) high quality salted butter (I used Calder’s Dairy), at room temperature
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup powdered peanut butter, such as PB2
Ganache
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup freeze dried raspberries
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease a tart pan with a removable bottom.
In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla, then beat in the powdered peanut butter and flour. The mixture may seem a little dry at first; keep beating till it comes together. If it absolutely won't come together, dribble in up to 1 tablespoon of water, until it does. This is a stiff dough.
Press the dough into the tart pan, smoothing the surface with your fingers, or with the flat bottom of a measuring cup.
Use a fork to prick the dough all over; this allows any steam to escape, and prevents the shortbread from bubbling as it bakes.
Bake the shortbread until it's a light golden brown across the top surface, and a deeper golden brown around the edges, about 35 minutes. I would keep an eye on it after 25 minutes - it’s better to be slightly underdone than burnt!
Remove it from the oven, and leave in the pan. Using a sharp knife, score the shortbread into 12 wedges. (Do this while the shortbread is still warm in the pan; if you wait until it's cool, it won't cut easily.) Let cool completely, at least for one hour.
Meanwhile, make the ganache. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan until it just comes to the boil. Put the white chocolate and dark chocolate chips in separate small bowls. Pour the heavy cream over each bowl until the chips are just submerged and let stand for a few minutes. Then mix to combine until smooth
If you have a coffee grinder, grind up the raspberries to a fine powder. You can do this in a food processor as well (it may not get as fine but that’s ok). Sift out the seeds as best as you can and add as much powder to the white chocolate ganache as you like, or until it’s nice and pink. If you have powder any left over, it’s good on cereal or in smoothies.
Spread both versions of the ganache onto the shortbread, break up into wedges, and enjoy!
Notes
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Baking.
No Comments