Peanut Butter Bread

Peanut Butter Bread - made June 19, 2011 from Tate's Bake Shop by Kathleen King (book #131)

Really nice texture and flavor on this one

Catching up from last week's baking.  I didn't bake much after this recipe, partly because it was so hot and I was reluctant to turn on my oven and add to the heat.  Plus, believe it or not, I'm cutting back on sweets.  Hard to do when I'm baking up new recipes.  Cuz I have to taste test them and all.....

I'm not a big fan of peanut butter as a standalone flavor and, even paired with chocolate, I like it well enough but don't go into raptures over it like I would over, say, caramel or dulce de leche.  So why do I keep baking with it??  Well, you try buying one of those large 2-packs from Costco and see if you don't go looking for peanut butter recipes.  Just don't ask me to explain why I buy the large Costco packs in the first place.  I don't have a rational reason for everything I do, unfortunately.  I just bake.

The only thing I changed with this recipe is I added some mini chocolate chips to it, again because I mostly like peanut butter when it comes with chocolate. From the recipe, I figured this is more like a quick bread and would have a tight crumb and a texture similar to a pound cake.  I tried to time this bread but ended up taking it out just after 45 minutes (er, more or less).  It looked done and the toothpick came out somewhat clean, somewhat moist.  Really hard to tell because the top bakes up firm and doesn't really "spring" back when pressed like a regular cake would.

I tried the taste test piece while the bread was still slightly warm.  Remember when I said I'm almost indifferent to peanut butter?  Uh, this quick bread might change my mind.  It was quite good, almost what a peanut butter delicacy would taste like if a peanut butter cookie married a peanut butter cake and had peanut butter kids.  This was an almost perfect combination of the two.  You can taste the peanut butter like you would in a cookie but it had the tender crumb of a cake without being really cakey. It was a lighter texture than a pound cake but not quite the cakey texture of a box cake mix.  In essence, it's a quick bread.  I'm glad I added the mini chocolate chips as I think that added to the flavor but if you're a purist, you can leave it out.  Or add peanut butter chips.  I've had good luck with the recipes I've tried so far from the Tate's Bake Shop book and I'm glad this was no exception.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup salted butter, softened to room temperature

½ cup sugar

¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup milk

1.     Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan and set it aside.

2.     In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

3.     Cream the butter and sugars till they are combined.  Add the peanut butter and mix it in.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.  Add the flour mixture.  Blend until combined.  The mixture will be dry.  Slowly pour in the milk and mix well.

4.     Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

5.     Bake it for 50 minutes or until the center springs back when pressed with a fingertip.

6.     Cool the loaf for 10 minutes in the pan and remove the bread from the pan to a cooling rack to cool completely.