Whipped peanut butter icing

[Lindsay Hough]

so I have this recipe at home that I found on Pinterest for a whipped charm cheese icing. It is essentially whipping cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in one bowl, whipping up whipping cream in another and folding them together. Bottom line is it is light and fluffy and I get TONS of compliments on it (thank you Pinterest!). I would like to somehow use this general idea to create a whipped peanut butter cream cheese icing so I don’t have to use butter OR confectioners sugar. Has anyone out there tried going in this direction direction before? Looking for any tips you may have.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

so I have this recipe at home that I found on Pinterest for a whipped charm cheese icing. It is essentially whipping cream cheese, vanilla and sugar in one bowl, whipping up whipping cream in another and folding them together. Bottom line is it is light and fluffy and I get TONS of compliments on it (thank you Pinterest!). I would like to somehow use this general idea to create a whipped peanut butter cream cheese icing so I don’t have to use butter OR confectioners sugar. Has anyone out there tried going in this direction direction before? Looking for any tips you may have.

Hello and welcome.

Never tried it. But first though is peanut butter won’t do well as a replacement for powdered sugar.

Since your recipe has whipped cream, you need a stabilizer. Whipped cream has a lot of water.

Sugar is hygroscopic, so it attracts water. That helps stabilize the whipped cream.

Peanuts contain oil. Water and oil don’t mix. To create an emulsion you’ll need to beat the whipped cream and peanut butter. But extensive beating will separate the fat and water in cream. Beat a pint of whipping cream for 5 mins and you get butter when the separation occurs.

Certainly you can try whipping the cream cheese and peanut butter until very smooth. Then mix in the whipped cream. I’d use regular peanut butter as it has stabilizers in it to keep the oil from separating. But the other challenge is cream cheese becomes extremely soft when whipped to much.

Maybe start with a cream cheese icing recipe that calls for granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. But then sugar is sugar, whether it’s granulated or powdered.

 

[Lindsay Hough]

Hello and welcome.

Never tried it. But first though is peanut butter won’t do well as a replacement for powdered sugar.

Since your recipe has whipped cream, you need a stabilizer. Whipped cream has a lot of water.

Sugar is hygroscopic, so it attracts water. That helps stabilize the whipped cream.

Peanuts contain oil. Water and oil don’t mix. To create an emulsion you’ll need to beat the whipped cream and peanut butter. But extensive beating will separate the fat and water in cream. Beat a pint of whipping cream for 5 mins and you get butter when the separation occurs.

Certainly you can try whipping the cream cheese and peanut butter until very smooth. Then mix in the whipped cream. I’d use regular peanut butter as it has stabilizers in it to keep the oil from separating. But the other challenge is cream cheese becomes extremely soft when whipped to much.

Maybe start with a cream cheese icing recipe that calls for granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar. But then sugar is sugar, whether it’s granulated or powdered.

Thank you so much for your suggestions and for welcoming me here! So if I were to use another recipe like the initial whipped cream cheese one mentioned, do I need to make any adjustments in the amount of cream cheese or whipping cream to adjust for the addition of the peanut butter? below is the ratio I am currently using. Again, I really appreciate your help. I have no formal training, but thoroughly enjoy baking!

1 (8 ounce) package, block cream cheese, cold

• 1 cup granulated white sugar or 3/4 cup, if you prefer less sweet

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream or heavy cream cold

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Thank you so much for your suggestions and for welcoming me here! So if I were to use another recipe like the initial whipped cream cheese one mentioned, do I need to make any adjustments in the amount of cream cheese or whipping cream to adjust for the addition of the peanut butter? below is the ratio I am currently using. Again, I really appreciate your help. I have no formal training, but thoroughly enjoy baking!

1 (8 ounce) package, block cream cheese, cold

• 1 cup granulated white sugar or 3/4 cup, if you prefer less sweet

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream or heavy cream cold

Short reply:
Recommendations:

• Leave your recipe amounts as written.
• Stabilize the whipped cream with gelatin (google Cook’s Illustrated stabilized whipped cream for recipe).
• Use a stabilized peanut butter (like Jiff) and cream cheese (like Philadelphia brand).
• Use chilled ingredients.
• Start by whipping a small amount of peanut butter into the cream cheese.

Detailed explanation if you’re interested in how I got there…

Below is a breakdown of the ratios using the cream cheese as the base on which other ingredients are calculated. Note the amount of whipped cream (by weight); it is significantly more than both sugar and cream cheese. It’s also considerably more heavy cream that an average cream cheese icing. Given the amount of cream, introducing oil from peanut butter could be a problem as both heavy cream and cream cheese contain a lot of water.

Whipped cream is very unstable; it begins to release its water immediately after being whipped. The released water and the oil in peanut butter will mostly cause the emulsion begin to break after sitting for an hour or so. Given the amount of heavy cream, I would first try a gelatin stabilized whipped cream. If you can control the rate of free water seeping out the emulsion, you have a better change of the emulsion holding. Cook’s Illustrated has a post online for using gelatin to stabilize whipped cream.

Start with a small amount of peanut butter. Whip a 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup into the cream cheese.

The natural water in cream cheese needs to be considered as well. In the US, the FDA allows up to 55% moisture in cream cheese. That high moisture content is one of the reason stabilizers are added to cream cheese. Assuming you’re in the US, I’d use Philadelphia brand cream cheese as it is stabilized. I would not use reduced fat or neufchatel as both will contain less fat and notably more moisture. So even without changing the amount cream cheese, by changing the type of cream cheese, you could introduce more water.

I mentioned earlier a regular peanut butter would be best as they contain stabilizers to keep the oil from separating. The less free oil from the peanut butter floating around, the better given the potential of water release from the cream and cream cheese.

Maybe use cold ingredients as well since heat will trigger water separation from the whipped cream and cream cheese, and oil from the peanut butter.

As I said, I’ve never made a peanut butter cream cheese icing, so this is just how I would think my way through the process. Please let us know how it turns out. Now I seriously want a PB&J and banana sandwich on toast



Ratios from original recipe

Cream cheese 1.00

8 oz = 226g


Sugar .66

1 cup = 200g; recipe calls for 3/4 (.75) cup

200 x .75 = 150g sugar

150g sugar/226g cream cheese = .66


Heavy Cream 1.60

1 cup = 240g; recipe calls for 1-1/2 (1.5) cups

240 x 1.5 = 360g

360g heavy cream/226g cream cheese = 1.59 (round up to 1.60)

 

[TheBlueApron]

Short reply:
Recommendations:

• Leave your recipe amounts as written.
• Stabilize the whipped cream with gelatin (google Cook’s Illustrated stabilized whipped cream for recipe).
• Use a stabilized peanut butter (like Jiff) and cream cheese (like Philadelphia brand).
• Use chilled ingredients.
• Start by whipping a small amount of peanut butter into the cream cheese.

Detailed explanation if you’re interested in how I got there…

Below is a breakdown of the ratios using the cream cheese as the base on which other ingredients are calculated. Note the amount of whipped cream (by weight); it is significantly more than both sugar and cream cheese. It’s also considerably more heavy cream that an average cream cheese icing. Given the amount of cream, introducing oil from peanut butter could be a problem as both heavy cream and cream cheese contain a lot of water.

Whipped cream is very unstable; it begins to release its water immediately after being whipped. The released water and the oil in peanut butter will mostly cause the emulsion begin to break after sitting for an hour or so. Given the amount of heavy cream, I would first try a gelatin stabilized whipped cream. If you can control the rate of free water seeping out the emulsion, you have a better change of the emulsion holding. Cook’s Illustrated has a post online for using gelatin to stabilize whipped cream.

Start with a small amount of peanut butter. Whip a 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup into the cream cheese.

The natural water in cream cheese needs to be considered as well. In the US, the FDA allows up to 55% moisture in cream cheese. That high moisture content is one of the reason stabilizers are added to cream cheese. Assuming you’re in the US, I’d use Philadelphia brand cream cheese as it is stabilized. I would not use reduced fat or neufchatel as both will contain less fat and notably more moisture. So even without changing the amount cream cheese, by changing the type of cream cheese, you could introduce more water.

I mentioned earlier a regular peanut butter would be best as they contain stabilizers to keep the oil from separating. The less free oil from the peanut butter floating around, the better given the potential of water release from the cream and cream cheese.

Maybe use cold ingredients as well since heat will trigger water separation from the whipped cream and cream cheese, and oil from the peanut butter.

As I said, I’ve never made a peanut butter cream cheese icing, so this is just how I would think my way through the process. Please let us know how it turns out. Now I seriously want a PB&J and banana sandwich on toast



Ratios from original recipe

Cream cheese 1.00

8 oz = 226g


Sugar .66

1 cup = 200g; recipe calls for 3/4 (.75) cup

200 x .75 = 150g sugar

150g sugar/226g cream cheese = .66


Heavy Cream 1.60

1 cup = 240g; recipe calls for 1-1/2 (1.5) cups

240 x 1.5 = 360g

360g heavy cream/226g cream cheese = 1.59 (round up to 1.60)

Just joined and reading through a few interesting posts and answers....Learning so much already! Thanks

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Just joined and reading through a few interesting posts and answers....Learning so much already! Thanks

Welcome, looking forward to hearing about your baking adventures