A Peanut Butter Brunch

I remember the day I heard that Kraft was finally releasing flavoured peanut butter. As someone whose network extends into the United States, I have forever been jealous of their tales of cookie butter and other such delightful toast toppings. The idea that Kraft would be spreading some flavour onto the peanut butter shelves of Canadian grocery stores had me salivating.

Kraft recently unveiled four brand new peanut butter flavours to their lineup. Peanut Butter with Honey, Banana Granola Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter with Cinnamon Granola Raisin, and Cranberry Peanut Butter. I wasn’t sure which one I was most excited to try!

On the weekend after I received all four of the peanut butter jars, my parents were in town. Cameron and Gavin’s Nana picked up the Banana Granola Peanut Butter, opened it, and spooned a bit out for everyone to try. She just couldn’t leave it unopened without sampling it. Flavoured peanut butter is new and exciting territory! Of course, the taste test was a hit.

I was challenged with making a brunch using each of the new peanut butter flavours. Thankfully, I was provided with a menu or else we probably would have had four pieces of toast with a different flavour of peanut butter on each.

On a recent Saturday, I gave my husband the morning off from his usual bacon and egg brunch, and told him that I would be in charge of the breakfast. It went well, albeit slower than I was anticipating (did you know that french toast is absolutely impossible to make in this household without constant help and supervision from the three year old?). When all was said and done, we had a breakfast table filled with food and a very hungry family.

Our menu that morning consisted of:

• Banana Granola Stuffed French Toast
• Cranberry-Peanut Butter Quesadilla
• Kraft Peanut Butter with Honey Yogurt
• Peanut Butter-Cinnamon Raisin Cookies

(click the links above for the recipes).

My favourite recipe by far was the Peanut Butter-Cinnamon Raisin Cookies. As a busy Mom who is sometimes often rushing my kids around in the morning – kids who sometimes refuse or barely eat their breakfast – the idea of a breakfast cookie strikes me as pure genius! Containing Peanut Butter with Cinnamon Granola Raisin to start their day off with protein, bran to provide fibre, and even some hidden apples for a bit of a nutritional kick, these cookies can be consumed on the go. I even threw in some flax for an Omega-3 boost, although the recipe did not call for it.

I will undoubtedly make the Cranberry-Peanut Butter Quesadilla again, and not just for brunches. This quesadilla containing peanut butter and apples is the perfect toddler food, assuming your child has already been introduced to peanuts. I wish I would have thought of this recipe before I went back for work. It would have been a lunch time staple for sure.

I really love the Banana Granola Peanut Butter, but I did not love the Stuffed French Toast. The banana flavour was too muted when all was said and done. That said. I think adding sliced banana to the sandwich would have completely changed my opinion.

The Kraft Peanut Butter with Honey Yogurt missed the mark a bit. I do enjoy plain greek yogurt with honey, but found the extra peanut butter flavour a bit overwhelming and out of place. The Peanut Butter with Honey is excellent on its own, however.

I am not sure if I had a favourite peanut butter. I honestly love them all. I would probably rank the Banana Granola Peanut Butter and the Peanut Butter with Cinnamon Granola Raisin at the top, but the other two would not be too far behind. I’m convinced a couple of the flavours are still showcased best on toast, but I don’t mind trying a few more recipes to really be sure… for sake of science.

Thanks Kraft for providing the ingredients for this brunch!