Last week, we discussed some ideas for replacing eggs in favorite recipes. This week, we’re talking about peanuts and nuts.
Replacing peanuts and tree nuts in recipes is often pretty easy. In most cases, nuts are used as a garnish or as additional texture, so you can usually just eliminate nuts from a recipe, and it will hold up just fine (such as in fudge, banana bread, or a casserole.). But here are some additional ideas:
Instead of a using slivered almonds or another nut topping on a casserole, try using safe bread crumbs (dry your own if you need to), crushed potato chips, crushed pretzels, or crushed tortilla chips. You never know – the new variation you’ve created may turn out to be even more popular than the original recipe!
Instead of a nut topping on a dessert, try a streusel topping. Mix together 1/3 c. flour, 1/4 c. safe softened margarine, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle it on top.
Another yummy dessert topping might be an oatmeal crumble topping. Mix together 3/4 c. uncooked oats, 3/4 c. flour, 1/3 c. brown sugar. 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and 1/3 c. melted safe margarine.
Instead of using nuts in a cookie recipe for texture, use safe chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, or oatmeal.
Instead of using peanut butter in a Thai recipe or in a dessert, use Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds). Sunbutter makes wonderful Muddy Buddies, for example! You can try this delicious Peanut-free Muddy Buddy recipe that I posted before. Sunbutter is very similar to peanut butter in taste and texture, and it seems to work well in most recipes, so give it a try. It’s a much closer replacement than soy butter, in my opinion. Just make sure you explain to people that it’s not real peanut butter, so they don’t think you made something with peanut butter, so it’s okay for them to do it, too!
Do you have any additional suggestions for replacing nuts or peanuts in a recipe? If so, leave a comment and share it with us all!
Next week, I’ll talk about some ideas for replacing milk and other dairy products in recipes.
3 comments:
Great ideas on avoiding nuts. I've been blogging about SunButter, so of course I love your idea of just subsituting SunButter whenever a recipe calls for peanut butter.
I'm just starting to make my way down their SunButter recipe recipe list. We've tried the Muddy Buddies a.k.a. puppy chow, chex mix, etc.)LMK if you try another recipe with SunButter, I'd like to feature it on my blog .
Great ideas on replacing nuts. I have used the oatmeal crumble several times and loved it. My concern is that the nuts often add the protein part of a dish and oatmeal and bread crumbs are adding carbs rather than replacing the nutrituional value of nuts. Do you have any suggestions on replacing the protein part that the nut plays?
Try soybeans. They are hard to find but my son loves them and they taste like raw peanuts.
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