Recipe: Peanut butter powder

These days it seems there's a lot more serious allergies to peanuts than there used to be - maybe it's a sign of our hyper-sterilized culture or maybe doctors are just better at diagnosing the sources of allergic reactions.  Either way, the reaction to these reactions is that despite warnings of "may contain traces of nuts", many pastry shops have just dropped anything peanut related from the menu.  If you showed up to a school picnic with a nice batch of peanut brittle, they'd probably look at you like you were some kind of monster.  It's terrible to have a serious allergy, but really, what did 'ol  peanut do?  He was just hanging out in trees, minding his own business, getting involved in all sorts of deliciousness, then BAM!  Public enemy #1.  

Well I'm going to say it.  I like peanuts.  I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER.  Ask my wife, sometimes I'll just go to the cupboard an have a spoon just to say hi.  One of my favorite desserts I ever worked with was put together by a like-minded pastry chef.  It was a chocolate and peanut mousse with peanut butter ice cream, cocoa nibs and peanut butter powder.  It was amazing, like a peanut butter cup evolved into a whole dish.  We named it "Welcome back Peanut".  Being in an ultra-safe hotel environment, we felt like such rebels.  The peanut butter powder on the dish became one of those things that just has a way of working its way back on the menu, especially if there's chocolate involved.

Peanut butter powder is fun to make, but really hard to nail down to a recipe.  It uses tapioca maltodextrin which weighs almost nothing, so it's very hard to measure it by weight.  It is also unbelievably fluffy, which makes it hard to measure by volume.  You just have to go by technique.  the best tool is some sort of blender or food processor that allows you to add ingredients while running (without removing the lid).  Then you go by feel.  A tiny bit of peanut butter will get you a fluffier powder, but not have much flavour.  More will get you a slightly less fluffy product, but still powdery and packed with flavour.  Too much and you get a paste.  Go slowly.

You will need:

tapioca maltdextrin       - a rough litre (quart) is a good start

smooth peanut butter    - you won't need more than a couple tablespoons

Method:

 - put the maltodextrin in the food processor and get it running

 - slowly add the peanut butter through the feeding hole and monitor the change in the powder

 - when you start to notice a change in the colour, stop the processor, smell, taste and feel the texture

 - if needed, start the processor again and add more peanut butter

 - when you find the sweet spot between flavour and fluffiness, stop adding the peanut butter

 - store in an airtight container until use