Way back in the warm sunny days of June DFV started a correspondence with the folks at The Peanut Butter Company in NYC.  We had met earlier at the Vida Vegan Con and they loved the vegan kids swap we did.  Delighted that we included a jar of their White Chocolate Wonderful PB in the box Anzia sent out to her swap-ie (swapper?), Lindsey shipped out a sampler of their peanut butters.

Shortly after receiving the PB we found out we were moving and within 2 weeks the D family were separated as mom vegan moved on to establish a beachhead in Oregon, while Dad vegan stayed in Seattle to shut down operations there.  Kid vegan got the best part of the deal, jet-setting around the country like a rockstar and living in the grandparents’ swimming pools for the summer.

Fast forward to October and the peanut butter was still sitting on our new counter unopened, and I was racked with guilt every time I looked at it.  It wasn’t our intention to treat this fine product so shabbily, it’s just that life happens.  We had to do something with it but what?  Throw a peanut butter tasting party, using our new neighbors as guinea pigs?  Suuuuure…..why not.…   So that’s exactly what we did.

We filled the island in our new kitchen with a variety of stuff that our unsuspecting guests could slather with or dip into the different peanut butters, Dark Chocolate Dreams, Mighty Maple, White Chocolate Wonderful, Cinnamon Raisin Swirl & The Heat is On.  The adult also had glasses of the Willamette Valley’s finest wines, while the kids had a non-alchoholic Apple Chardonnay from the local TJ’s and a surprisingly good time was had by all.

The exit polling yielded some interesting results. While the PBs were pretty much what you would expect from the names, with the exception the Some Like it Hot.  White Chocolate Wonderful lives up to its name, PB infused with white chocolate and it is wonderful. Dark Chocolate Dreams is the same, we dream of dipping our Honey Crisp apples into it.  Mighty Maple and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl are exactly what they are called.   Some Like it Hot threw everybody for a loop because none of us had ever tried spicy peanut butter before.  It had enough of a bite to appeal to the adult, but it was not too spicy for some of the kids.  I think we are going to try using this for a peanut dipping sauce when we attempt to make spring rolls.

No one flavor was chosen as a runaway crowd favorite, though there a pretty clear-cut top 3.  Over the next few posts we are going to experiment with the top 3 flavors and incorporate them into some of our favorite DFV recipes.

Coming in at #3 was the Mighty Maple.  We went with the obvious, adding 3/4 cup of Mighty Maple PB to my chocolate chip pancakes. (I didn’t stock up on white chocolate chips before leaving Seattle, doh…..)  The resulting batter was a little thick and I had to add more soy milk, approximately 1/4 to 1/2 cup to thin it out.  The pancakes themselves came out a little denser than usual (not in a bad way), taking only 3 to fill the little vegan’s belly instead of usual 5.  The leftovers were easy to reheat in the toaster and by Tuesday they were gone.

Mighty Maple Chocolate Chip Pancakes

1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz of apple sauce
2 1/4-1/2 cups of soy milk
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
3/4 cup Mighty Maple Peanut Butter
2-3 ounces of chocolate chips

Preheat a griddle to @ 325-350 degrees

Starting with the wet ingredients, mix everything except for the chocolate chips together in a large bowl until you have a thick batter.

Using a 1/4 cup sized measuring cup, fill the cup half way with batter, sprinkle in chips, top off with batter, then pour on to the heated greased griddle.

It takes an extra effort to do it this way but I found using a 1/4 size measuring cup is a great way to curb my super-size it tendencies, and by mixing the chips this way puts them in the middle, melting them nicely, instead of burning on the cooking surface.   I use vegan butter to grease the griddle.

Makes about 15 pancakes @ 6 inches across.

Added Bonus Recipe:  Steffi used the remainder of the Mighty Maple in the icing of the Elvis cake she made for her father’s birthday this weekend. Happy birthday Dad!  Though he doesn’t usually like cake, Dad went back for seconds, with piece 2 being larger than piece 1 🙂