Maple Peanut Butter

 In our family we put maple syrup on lots of things -- from vanilla ice cream to grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  Maybe it's because my husband grew up in Canada.  I don't know.  We just really like maple flavor around here.  So it was no surprise when our youngest son started making peanut butter and maple syrup sandwiches.  {It's really not that far a stretch from peanut butter and honey if you think about it.}

That has been his lunch-of-choice for the past couple of school years.  My only complaint about it is that syrup is runnier than honey so it drips off his sandwiches something fierce.  I hate finding little drips of sticky goo all over my kitchen counter top more than almost anything and cleaning up one's own messes is an art we have yet to master. 

But then I had a brilliant idea!  You can buy peanut butter and honey pre-mixed at the grocery store and it is delightful.  You can even by peanut butter and jelly pre-mixed.  Why not whip the maple syrup INTO the peanut butter to avoid all the messy drips?!  It worked like a charm . . . until it didn't.  Maybe one of you out there can explain this to me.

I started out with a trial batch in my Kitchen Aid mixer.  I stopped to taste it after beating for about 30 seconds and it was pretty good.  I thought it just needed a little more maple syrup so I added one more squeeze and beat it again.  It got all crumbly and weird so I added a little more peanut butter to try to get back to the original proportions, but it just kept getting yuckier and yuckier until the oil started separating out of it and it felt like plastic.  Guh-ross!  So I threw that batch away and went back to my original recipe.  I would love to know the science behind what happened there -- was it too much beating?  I had originally intended to whip it until it became light and fluffy like whipped honey butter or cream cheese.  Is that just not possible with peanut butter?  I am absolutely perplexed.

Anyway, here's the recipe that works:

Maple Peanut Butter

1 C. peanut butter

1/3 C. maple syrup

Combine in a mixer {or by hand} and beat until just blended -- no longer.  Store in an air tight container.

Easy cheesy.  I spread some on a piece of toast for my lunch today and it was super yummy with a big glass of cold milk.

If you like maple, give it a try!  If you know what happened with my original batch, please leave a comment and let me know.  It is a mystery to me.  Have a great day, friends.

PS . . . Please send good thoughts our way today!  My husband has a job interview and it would be really great if he could get back to work sooner rather than later.  Thanks!!