Friday, August 20, 2010

Special Delivery: A Nut Butter-y Review

Special delivery
In between all of the adventures and stomach cramping of this week, I received a special delivery. It was a package from The Healthy Apple! I won this New York City-dwelling blogger's Justin's Nut Butter giveaway week, and now I find myself with heaps of single-serving packs of Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter. Thank you, Big Apple gal! Click to visit her super recipe for dairy-free chocolate mousse.

Of course I had to tear into one of the 80-calorie pouches right away. Yesterday's afternoon snack was a rice thin spread with an insane amount of chocolate hazelnut butter:

Snackity
I'm guessing that this is a tablespoon-sized serving. Yet again I am amazed at how much nut butter a tablespoon contains! I'm always so stingy when eyeballing almond butter servings. Clearly, a half-ounce pack of chocolate hazelnut butter is as voluminous as it is tasty.

And it really is tasty. I liked the strong hazelnut flavor, which is not overpowered by the chocolate. I expected this butter to be more frosting-like, but I was pleasantly surprised by the texture and harmony of tastes. I would have liked for this to have more protein (the half-ounce pouch has 2 grams of protein), but overall this was a nice, healthy treat.

This morning, I added a package of Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter to my breakfast oat bran. Next time I'll add more stevia as the bowl was a little bland, but overall I enjoyed my most recent concoction. Want to try it yourself? Here's a recipe!

P1130150

Spiced Banana Oat Bran with Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup water
splash of milk
1 banana, sliced or broken into small chunks
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 packet stevia or other sweetener*
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 T chocolate hazelnut butter

Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan, stir, and set over medium heat (I prefer my stove's number six setting on the dial). Allow the mixture to simmer, stirring occasionally. When the water has been absorbed and the oat bran is bubbling gently, remove and service. Top with Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter or another nut butter of your choice.

Serves 1.

*I know I mentioned that the original bowl I made using this combo was a little bland. I only used half a packet of stevia in the original, and so adjusted the recipe accordingly. Happy oat bran-ing!


Grr

3 comments:

  1. Ya know, I've never been sure how to measure out nut butter. Do you go for a heaping spoonful? Or are we expected to make it a level, even teaspoon/tablespoon?

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  2. Good question, Faith! I aim for what would be approximately contained by a level Tablespoon...and figure that my body can deal with slight variations. :)

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  3. Ya know, I've never been sure how to measure out nut butter. Do you go for a heaping spoonful? Or are we expected to make it a level, even teaspoon/tablespoon?

    ReplyDelete

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