Peanut Butter Cream and Berries Crepes plus a VISA Card and Peanut Butter Giveaway! Giveaway Closed..

March 16, 2012 at 7:21 am | Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Fruit, Giveaway, Healthy/Low-Fat | 358 Comments
Tags: Berries, Crepes, Giveaway, National Peanut Board, Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter Cream

UPDATE: Apparently there is some problem with an upgrade WordPress made to the comment form.  If you have any trouble leaving a comment, please email me at lismi171@yahoo.com, and I’ll take care of it, or try leaving the comment using the Twitter or Facebook option. It might go to spam, so you won’t get the  usual ‘needs to be approved’ confirmation, but I’ll find it and approve it.

I’m a peanut butter freak.  You might not have known that because I don’t have a lot of peanut butter treats, sweet or savory, on my blog.  Oh, I do have some, like..

• Peanut Butter Caramel Dipped Lady Apples
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake Swirl/Chunk Brownies
• Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Entremet
• Peanut Butter Pie
• Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cinnamon Peanut Butter Cream
• Double Chocolate-Peanut Butter Tart
• Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse
• Spicy Peanut Noodles in Cucumber Cups
• Peanut Sauce for Noodles and/or Satay dipping

OK, so maybe it’s a little more than I thought.

…but, the main reason I don’t have TONS, is because if I cooked or especially baked with peanut butter as much as I wanted to, I’d eat it all.  No giving most of it away, no one slice then ‘into the freezer’, no dumping the rest into the trash – all to eliminate the big gorge.  I’ve had an ongoing love affair with peanut butter since I was a child, and no amount of restraint can keep me from it’s creamy or crunchy ‘come hither’ lure.  This is why one of the above actions must take place when I do bake with it.

I even keep a jar of peanut butter in my bedroom.  Wow, that was kind of embarrassing to admit.

The first crepe in the upper left hand corner ‘went to the dog’ aka me.

So, I’ve got peanut butter desserts and a few savory lunch or dinner peanut butter treats, but what about BREAKFAST?  Yes, peanut butter for breakfast!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Lakeshia for the National Peanut Board about Promoting Peanut Butter for Breakfast.  I was offered a $50 VISA card, plus one to give away to one of you, along with a variety of peanut buttes, and a mug and spatula.  Obviously, the VISA card is definitely the biggie, the main lure, the Hell YES, right?  Not exactly in my case..all I could think was..

‘Yeah, yeah, just get that peanut butter to me ASAP’

I’ve eaten peanut butter for breakfast, again, since I was a child.  It started with the goofy blue suited captain cereal – ONLY the peanut butter crunch version.  I think I had that for breakfast almost every day Kindergarten through 4th grade.  Then that morphed into just a snack I ate straight from the box, while I started my mornings with peanut butter pancakes, or peanut butter french toast (NOT actual peanut butter French toast or pancakes, I just spread peanut butter in between the pancakes or slices, then poured on the syrup).  Once I was in High School, if I wasn’t skipping breakfast, which I did most of the time, it was peanut butter on whole wheat toast, with or without apple slices.  I still eat that for breakfast to this day.

According to the National Peanut Board;

While 93 percent of Americans agree that breakfast is the most important meal, less than half eat a morning meal every day .Reasons for skipping out often include trying to lose weight or not having the time (That’s me!).

They also mentioned that peanut butter is full of fiber, protein and good fats.  Why not eat it for breakfast?  However, I’m willing to bet the goofy, blue suited Captain peanut butter cereal doesn’t fit into any of those categories.  Funny thing is, as a kid, it tasted SO peanut buttery to me.  As an adult, I cannot taste one bit of peanut butter, just a sugary, salty, kind of distant relative of peanut butter.  Bottom line, open up a jar, or grind your own..there’s no substitution for the real thing.

Well..I’ve created a breakfast offering (although it can be construed and eaten as a dessert) that I think you’ll all love.  This is probably more of a Sunday ‘breakfast in bed’ kind of treat, considering it’s not super quick to put together.  Making crepes takes some time, and a little technique, but once you get the hang of it, it starts to move along a lot faster.  However, don’t be put off when that first crepe doesn’t turn out.  This happens to even the best chefs, hence the saying….

“The first crepe always goes to the dog”

I think it’s a matter of the pan hitting the right temperature.  If you’re new to crepe making, I strongly suggest using a non-stick pan.  Actually, I recommend you always use a non-stick pan, no matter how advanced!  Much, much easier to produce perfectly golden crepes that don’t stick.  Plus, it’ll cut the time in half.  The crepe recipe I’m using contains canola oil and skim milk rather than butter and whole milk, so there’s your ‘healthier’ factor.  The filling is another issue.  Yes, it’s a bit rich, but you’re using a small amount of it to fill each crepe (the beauty of the PB cream is you can adjust the sweetness and consistency to your liking – just taste along the way)..and then fresh berries to top it off..a huge DING on the healthy meter again.

You can splurge and gussy it up a bit like I did with drizzles of melted chocolate or chocolate syrup on top, even a spoonful of whipped cream, plus powdered sugar.  Who wouldn’t want a plate of these served to them for breakfast?  It’s like breakfast out, not in.

Now to the Giveaway…

To help make mornings easier, the National Peanut Board is equipping peanut butter fans with nutritious breakfast tips and recipes at www.PB4Breakfast.com . Visitors are also encouraged to vote for their favorite peanut butter breakfast dishes. For every vote, America’s peanut farmers will donate $5, up to $10,000, to help serve a nutritious breakfast to the hungry.

     Photo of above prizes courtesy National Peanut Board

Not only can you help those in need with a click, you also have a chance to win a variety of Peanut Butters and Peanut Butter samples – a mug and spatula, and a $50 Visa gift card by posting your favorite way to eat Peanut Butter for breakfast and sharing away. I will select a winner on March 23rd, 11:59 pm, using random.org. A winner will be announced March 24th.

In order to enter this giveaway, you must…

1. Leave a comment here about anything  – whether it be my crepes, and/or your favorite way to incorporate peanut butter into breakfast or a way you might incorporate it into breakfast.  THEN,

2. Tell the National Peanut Board how you like Peanut Butter for breakfast on the Peanut Butter Fanatic Facebook wall.

3. Vote for your favorite PB for Breakfast recipe, while you’re there.

4. Leave a comment here telling me you did # 2 and #3.

Of course I couldn’t leave you without bonus entries..

1.  Like Peanut Butter Fanatic on Facebook

2.  Follow me on Twitter @parsleynsage

3. Subscribe to Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives via email or RSS feed.

4.  Tweet this giveaway – I just entered to win a $50 VISA card, a variety of Peanut Butters plus more at http://bit.ly/z5HW3X. #giveaway #peanutbutter

Leave a separate comment for everything you did.

Peanut Butter Cream and Berries Crepes
4 -6 servings
Crepes
Recipe from Jacques Pepin via Delish
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon corn or canola oil
A little additional oil for greasing the skillet

Peanut Butter Cream
8-oz cream cheese, softened (make it skinnier using Neufchatel or low-fat cream cheese)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar (you can add more or less depending on how sweet you like it. If it gets too thick if you increase the amount, just add more cream or milk)
2 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream, or milk, or soy milk, or almond milk etc.. your choice.
Assorted mixed berries of your choice, sliced or cut up

DIRECTIONS:
1. Combine the flour, eggs, sugar, and 1/4 cup of the milk in a bowl, and mix with a whisk until smooth. The mixture will be pretty thick. Add the remaining milk and the tablespoon of oil, and mix until smooth.   Let sit for 1 hour.

2.  In the meantime, make the peanut butter cream.  Combine peanut butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a medium bowl if you use a hand mixer.  Beat until smooth.  Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla and combine until smooth.  Drizzle in cream (or whatever milk you’d like) until it’s of a frosting like consistency, and fluffy.  Fill a piping bag, with a small or medium tip, or a ziplock bag with the end snipped off, with the cream if you want to get fancy, or just cover the bowl and set aside until ready to spoon onto crepes.

3. Lightly grease the bottom of an 9 or 10-inch non-stick skillet with a little oil, and heat the pan over medium to high heat. When it is hot, add about 1/4 of the crepe batter, and quickly tilt and move the skillet so the batter coats the entire bottom of the pan. Move quickly, or the batter will set before the bottom of the skillet is coated, and the crepes will be thicker than desired.  If there’s a hole anywhere, just add a little more batter to cover it.  Like I mentioned above, don’t be deterred if the first crepe doesn’t turn out.. this is the one usually goes to the dog anyway (In my case..I was the dog).

4. Cook for about 45 seconds on one side, and then turn and cook for about 20 seconds on the other side. As you make the crepes, stack them on a plate, browned side down, so that when they are filled and folded this brown side will be visible. Don’t start making the crepes until you’ve got the filling and berries ready to go, not to mention the ‘crew’ you’re going to serve them to.

5. Pipe or spread about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the peanut butter cream, in a line, on one side of the crepe (In my photos, I did a little piping twist, which used a lot more filling – this was all for show, unless you love A LOT of filling). Top with a few tablespoons of mixed berries. Roll up gently so most of the berries end up on top – some might get lost in the peanut butter cream. Top with some powdered sugar, a few drizzles of chocolate ganache or syrup and tuck in some extra berries in between each crepe and/or around the plate.  Pipe on some whipped cream, if you’re feeling especially ‘splurgy’.

Part 8 of Bad Boy First Love coming in a few short days.

The National Peanut Board provided me with a gift card to promote their Peanut Butter for Breakfast campaign, but the thoughts, opinions and recipes (except the plain crepes) shared in this post are my own. The National Peanut Board is providing the product giveaway and gift card.