It’s that time of the month! My first shipment of gourmet peanut butter has arrived! I recently mentioned that I was enrolled in the Peanut Butter of the Month Club as a birthday present from my sister. Needless to say, I was excited. The shipment took a while to get here because of 2 unfavorably-falling weekends and 1 liar of a delivery man who claimed delivery at a time that I was home and waiting. Either way, it’s here! Those two glorious jars above battled it out for my approval, but in the end, there was one clear winner.
The “subscription” my sister got me was for 2 jars every other month for a year. This time around I got Naturally Nutty brand Butter Toffee Peanut Butter and Sunland Raspberry Peanut Butter Spread. When I received the package, there was oil all over the box and it turns out the Butter Toffee Peanut Butter had leaked. The resulting peanut butter is probably a bit drier than it should be and it had some odd looking spots on top, although that didn’t stop me from eating some. The customer service at Amazing Clubs was very helpful when I emailed them about the shipment. They responded within a day and immediately sent out a replacement jar. They also have about 50 other clubs from wine and beer to teddy bear and dog treat clubs.
The package came with a background on the two peanut butter companies, a description of the flavors and a recipe for each one: Butter Toffee Peanut Butter Fudge and Raspberry Peanut Butter Popcorn. I didn’t try these recipes but I did use the peanut butters in a few of my own ways. Read on for ingredients, nutrition facts and the taste test results!
Raspberry Peanut Butter Spread (12oz, $5.00)
Ingredients: Roasted Valencia Peanuts, Sugar, Raspberry Compound (Raspberry, Sucrose, Dextrose, Fructose, Food Acids, Pectin, Natural Flavor), Palm Oil, Salt, Modified Corn Starch.
Nutrition Facts: Serving Size 2 Tbsp (32g)
Calories: 190
Fat Cal. 120
Total Fat: 13g
Sat Fat: 3g
Cholest: 0mg
Sodium: 80mg
Total Carb: 11g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 9g
Protein: 6g
The first thing that struck me about this peanut butter was that it was called a peanut butter spread. Perhaps it’s because, as you can tell from the ingredients, that there is quite a bit of added sugar in this peanut butter concoction and it shows. The raspberry taste is strong and it’s very sugary, a little too much for me. But the raspberry flavor is strange, it tastes very artificial and is almost a little sickening when mixed with the sugar. Not that this peanut butter is terrible, I just wouldn’t buy it again. I read a review of various peanut butter flavors and the reviewer noted that all fruit-flavored peanut butter, regardless of brand, had a artificial and weak taste to them and were not desirable.
There is some discrepancy between the jar I got and the one listed on Sunland’s website. They show a 16oz plastic jar instead of the 12oz glass one I received. Either way I don’t need 16oz of this peanut butter, 12oz is plenty. Other than eating it on a spoon, I added it to my morning oatmeal and was surprised at how much better it tasted than by itself. With a sliced banana and some cinnamon added the oatmeal was pretty tasty. Overall, a decent peanut butter but not one to write home about.
Butter Toffee Peanut Butter (15oz, $6.75)
Ingredients: Dry Roasted Unsalted U.S.A. Peanuts, Butter Toffee U.S.A. Peanuts (butter, sugar, salt), Organic Flax Seed, Organic Hemp Seed, Organic Palm Fruit Oil.
Right away this peanut butter has a lightly sweet taste, partially due to the flax seed. The perfect amount of toffee flavor and a small amount of sugar make this a very appealing peanut butter. It is similar in taste to honey roasted peanut butter but with a slight caramel twist. This no-stir peanut butter does not need to be refrigerated because of the palm oil, the same method used by Peanut Butter & Co to prevent oil separation.
I used this peanut butter in several ways. I added it to my morning oatmeal along with a banana and it was much better than the raspberry version. I also spread it atop my world-renowned Banana Pancakes and they were scrumptious! It’s also pretty tasty when simply eaten with a banana.
The motto of Naturally Nutty is “Handcrafted for Health and Happiness”, a statement they fully live up to. Apparently, it’s their best selling peanut butter and according to them: “Watch out…you will get hooked!” I agree.
Overall:
The king of this round and the clear winner is the Butter Toffee Peanut Butter, placed high on the pedestal above. Peanut butter of the month club, who woulda thought? Perfect present really, especially for The Peanut Butter Boy. Thanks sis!
wow, butter toffee and your omega’s?!? :)
I’ve never had flavoured peanut butter before; looks intriguing! And ohmygoodness they have a club for everything. That link could be very, very dangerous…
Hooray for gourmet peanut butters!!
The toffee flavoured peanut butter must taste yummy. I didn t know there are so many flavours you can add to peanut butter. yummy I m going to mix and match :-)
Isn’t it great that finally peanut butter has come a long way? I mean remember back about 15 years ago when there was no “fun” peanut butter? That the most exciting thing was chunky Jif? How boring that was. So, peanut butter, you’ve come a long way. yeah!
Nick,
I made that peanut butter cream pie with wild blackberries… but it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. I can send you photos and chronicle what didn’t work and what did. Or I can try it again. I want to use jam this time around.
Jen
Nick, you had me at “Butter Toffee.” I’m more than just a little pleased to see it beat out the raspberry peanut butter! Such a biased judge I would be if I were in your shoes.
Happy peanut butter tastings!
ttfn30, Yea it’s a pretty lethal combo.
Sagan, You really need to try my flavored peanut butters, there is a whole listing of them about midway through this post.
Snooky Doodle, Dawn, Yea it's pretty incredible how many flavors exist now. And it seems to slowly be trickling into stores, PB&Co was probably one of the first. Hip hip hooray for peanut butter!!!
Rosiecat, Yea, the raspberry stuff wasn’t so good, although the girlfriend loved it. I gave most of it to her =). I’m going to try to replicate the flavor of this one, but I don’t know about adding flax, hemp and palm oil…. we’ll see.
Yeah Nick…. I’ll write about my “first attempt” since I the berries turned the crust soggy after a few days in the fridge. I’ll chronicle my adventures to making the PERFECT peanutbutter pie. I may even have to call my great aunt Ella to see if she has any recipes to share.
I’ll take photos and keep you in the loop :)
Jen
Ooh, PB toffee! I covet! If we were neighbours and you invited me over, I’d pop it into my handbag without a twinge of guilt. Aren’t you lucky I live a million miles away?
You know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna whip up some dulce le leche PB, and then come over and gloat ;)
The toffee one sounds good!
Hey, I’m guessing you probably have tried it, but have you had the P.B. Loco Choc. Chip Cookie Dough PB? I recently bought some. Just wondering what you think of it.
I’ll probably just make cookies with it. It’s more all swirled together than I thought it would be. I was hoping for cookie dough chunks like in ice cream. It’s super sweet, too.
Your sister is so good to you. You must be in hog heaven.
That toffee flavor sounds like theone I would choose as well. What a fun year you have in store for yourself. Great sis!
Jen, The chronicles of the perfect peanut butter pie…. love it, that’s the title!
Dee, I may have to move even further away =). Dulce de leche peanut butter? How do you do that one?
Katrina, People keep telling me about all these PB Loco flavors, I’ve never heard of them or seen them in stores. They’re frightfully expensive online and I keep hearing that they are often too sweet. I must find some to try though! I would love cookie dough chunks in it, maybe I’ll try to come up with a better recipe…
Giz, Carol, I know, she treats me well!
I got the PB Loco at Target, the PB Loco company online told me it was there and I went and looked and it was. I don’t think they had all flavors. It was $5.95 there and online on PB Loco’s website it’s about $7. Crazy.
Yes, the wheels have certainly been turning in my head about coming up with my own pb ccc dough combo.
It was VERY sweet. It’s not gross or anything (can any pb be?) but not worthy of just making a sammie to me.
Excited to have all the new contest recipes!
Haha, if there was ever a target audience for the peanut butter of the month club, it’s YOU!
Oh my goodness, butter toffee peanut butter! I must have this NOW to put in my oatmeal. I am so glad that I have rediscovered a love for PB…it rocks! I don’t know why I haven’t done it yet, but I am going now to add you to my blogroll! Have a great day!
I haven’t had the butter toffee but the Chocolate Butter Toffee is incredibly amazing and addicting!
I’ve had both now, and the Butter Toffee is still superior in my mind, but both aren’t even as good as the Vanilla Almond Butter!