Grade: B+
When last I checked, Smitten Kitchen had 365 comments for this chocolate-peanut spread recipe. Even The Kitchen jumped on the bandwagon and gave it a positive review. I tried it for myself this morning.
Keeping in mind this wasn't Nutella, I wasn't expecting it to taste like my last trip to Europe or anything remotely romantic. Still, I must have been hoping for something more exciting. The spread tastes less like chocolate-peanut heaven than it does like peanuts and cocoa powder.
The flavors started to unify after a few minutes, but even half an hour later, it is a little off. It could be a little sweeter, a little richer.
There is probably a lot of room for improvement and manipulation with this recipe. You can add more powdered sugar or maybe even replace the sugar with a sweetened drinking chocolate mix. In fact, I bought Dagoba's drinking mix (which combines chocolate and cocoa) for this recipe but opted intsead for my leftover Ghirardelli baking cocoa, thinking it would taste more pure. All in all, it tastes good but not 365 comments good. I think I'll try this with hazelnuts next time.
Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate-Peanut Spread
Ingredients
2 cups shelled, skinned raw peanuts (I used roasted peanuts)
1/2 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. salt, plus more to taste if needed
2-3 tbsp. peanut oil
How To:
[1] In a 400 degree oven, roast your raw peanuts for about ten minutes on a baking sheet. I used roasted peanuts, so I simply cut down the oven time to five minutes.
[2] Add your peanuts to your food processor. Process for about five minutes. It will first turn into a coarse meal, then a thick paste, and finally something resembling liquid peanuts. I might have processed mine a minute longer, because my peanuts didn't look as liquid as Smitten Kitchen's. But my mix is still pretty smooth and creamy.
[3] Add the rest of the ingredients (cocoa powder, sugar, salt, peanut oil). I started with two tablespoons of the peanut oil then added the rest later when I saw how thick the paste was. Mix for about one minute until everything is blended.
[4] SK instructs that the spread can be refrigerated for up to a week in a covered container.
