Monkey Butter
- Ingredients: cocoa powder, peanut oil, salt, sugar.
- Method: melt, mix, heat, cool, strain, add other flavors.
What Is Monkey Butter?
The name of the product comes from its origin.
Monkey butter was developed by Chef Robert Darden in New York City in 2008 as an alternative to traditional butters that are made using animal fat or lard.
In fact, he has since opened up his own restaurant called The Monkey Bar in NYC where you can enjoy some of his signature dishes including his famous Monkey Burger (made with ground beef) which features his unique blend of spices and sauces.
Darden’s business venture isn’t limited to cooking though.
He also sells his Monkey Butter on Amazon where you can buy either individual jars or bulk containers depending on your preference.
And while there’s plenty of recipes available online if you want to try making your own at home, we found the best ones below so you don’t have to go through all that trouble.
1. How to Make Monkey Butter
- Add the melted coconut oil into the dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Now add the wet ingredients such as vanilla extract, maple syrup, peanut butter and any other flavorings you like.
- Stir everything together well until well mixed.
- Pour the mixture onto a nonstick baking sheet lined with parchment paper and press down evenly to ensure it covers the entire surface.
- Refrigerate overnight before slicing into bars.
2. Chocolate Peanut Butter Monkey Butter
- In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the chocolate chips and peanut butter with 1/4 cup milk.
- Once melted and smooth, remove the pan from the stove and set aside.
- Mix the remaining 3 cups of peanuts with the melted coconut oil in a large bowl.
- Next, pour the warm chocolate into the peanut butter mixture and whisk until well combined.
- Spread the chocolate peanut butter mixture onto the prepared cookie sheets and refrigerate overnight.
- Slice into bars once they are firm enough to cut easily.
3. Banana Nut Butter
- Combine bananas and brown sugar in a food processor along with the butter and pulse until completely smooth.
- Transfer the banana nut butter into storage container and store in the refrigerator.
4. Almond Butter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking trays with parchment paper and spray lightly with vegetable oil.
- Place almond nuts in a blender and process them coarsely into crumbly pieces.
- On each tray, spread out about 2 tablespoons of almonds and bake for 12 minutes.
- Remove the trays from the oven and let cool completely. Once cooled, place the almond butter in a mixing bowl and use a fork to mash the nuts into smaller chunks.
- Store the almond butter in airtight containers in the freezer.
Where Does Monkey Butter Come From?
It’s not as complicated as you might think — there are only four ingredients in monkey butter that go into making such an incredible treat.
The first step in making monkey butter is melting the peanut oil and mixing it together with the cocoa powder, salt, and sugar until everything is well combined.
The mixture needs to be nice and smooth so your cookies will bake up evenly.
Next comes cooling the mixture down to room temperature before adding any flavorings or extracts (like vanilla).
After all of these steps have been taken care of, you should have a solid base for your cookie dough.
Finally, roll out some of the coconut-peanut butter mixture onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, then spread it around to form a thin layer.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes, or until the top turns golden brown, then remove from oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
You can also use this same method to create your own chocolate chip cookies by substituting regular white chocolate chips for the dark ones.
Enjoy!
What Is The History Of Monkey Butter?
The origins of Monkey Butter are as mysterious as its name suggests.
The earliest mention of monkey butter on record was in an 18th century book called A New Guide to England by John Arbuthnot (1710-1767).
In his work, he describes how “a certain kinde of fat” could be extracted from monkeys that were kept in London as pets during the 17th century.
He wrote about how the fat was used to treat burns, scabs, chilblains, and even skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis, and ringworm.
But what exactly did people use this strange substance for? Why would they want to rub their bodies with something so disgusting? Well, there seems to have been some sort of belief system surrounding it at the time.
It may well have had spiritual or medicinal properties, but we don’t know more than that – it was simply assumed to be good for you.
In fact, many believe that the reason why monkey butter seems so weird today is because it really wasn’t all that unusual back then.
People believed that using animal fats like lard, tallow, whale blubber, seal blubber, and bear grease was perfectly normal and healthy.
They also thought that eating meat was fine too.
So why not eat fat and meat from animals who lived in the wild? And if you didn’t feel like cooking up your own food, why not buy it instead?
So where do these bizarre beliefs stem from? Well, it turns out that they actually came from ancient Greece.
Here, people believed that everything was connected to the elements of fire, air, water, earth, and ether.
Monkeys, which are warm blooded animals, symbolized the element of fire, while bears represented the element of earth.
This meant that consuming fatty meats and animal fats was completely natural, and monkeys were seen as great sources of energy and vitality.
They were also considered to bring luck and protection against illness, which explains why people treated them as pets.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see why people might think that rubbing themselves with the fat of a pet monkey would give them strength and protect them from disease.
But perhaps most importantly, it helped them stay young and vibrant.
If anything can help us live longer lives, it has got to be fat right?
And yet, despite all of this seemingly sensible advice, nobody ever claimed that monkey butter cured cancer or stopped aging.
Instead, it was only ever prescribed for minor illnesses and injuries.
For instance, it was said to heal cuts, bruises, sprains, arthritis, rheumatism, gout, toothaches, sore throats, and eye infections.
Some doctors even recommended it as a treatment for asthma and diabetes.
This makes sense when you consider that at the time, people still saw the world very literally.
Everything was viewed through the lens of alchemy, which means that everything can be broken down into different components including metals, minerals, plants, and animals.
So what better way to cure any ailment than to replace bad body fluids with good ones?
How Is Monkey Butter Made?
This recipe uses peanuts as its main ingredient.
The idea behind making Monkey Butter comes from African folklore where monkeys would eat nuts before eating bananas.
It was thought that if you ate enough nuts prior to your meal, they could help you digest food better.
So what’s the difference between peanut butter and peanut butter-like products like chocolate spread or nut butters? Peanut butter is simply ground up peanuts without any additional additives.
In order to create more interesting flavor combinations, manufacturers use different types of sweeteners, spices, and flavors.
These may include vanilla, cinnamon, maple syrup, honey, brown sugar, or molasses.
They also might contain artificial colors, preservatives, and emulsifiers such as lecithin.
The best way to enjoy Monkey Butter is by melting it on top of your oatmeal, adding to smoothies, baking into cookies, or using it for dipping pretzels or popcorn.
You can even add a bit of coconut milk to give it a rich taste, which will be especially good when drizzled over ice cream.
What Are The Ingredients In Monkey Butter?
The main ingredient of Monkey Butter is cocoa powder.
This makes up about half of the total weight.
The second most important ingredient after cocoa powder is peanut oil which accounts for around 30% of the blend.
After that comes salt and sugar, both at 10%.
These three ingredients form the base of Monkey Butter.
However, there may be some variations depending on what flavor your heart desires.
For example, if you want to experiment with different types or flavors, look into using chocolate, vanilla extract, nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.
There are two major ways in which Monkey Butter can be prepared.
One method is to simply melt all the ingredients together (including any additional flavoring) until they become liquid.
Then let them cool down before adding more spices or anything else you might wish to include.
Alternatively, you could take out the melted mixture from the pan and allow it to solidify so that you have a block of solidified peanut butter.
You then cut off whatever shape you desire and enjoy!
How Do You Use Monkey Butter?
You can use Monkey Butter as a topping on ice cream or frozen yogurt, spread on toast, dip breadsticks into it, put it on top of pancakes, stir it into hot oatmeal, sprinkle it over cookies, use it as an icing for cupcakes, or even try using it as a frosting between layers of cake!
The possibilities are endless when making your own version of Monkey Butter at home.
What Are Some Monkey Butter Recipes?
Looking for a tasty monkey butter recipe that’ll satisfy your sweet tooth without all the guilt? Here are three different options to choose from:
1. Monkey Butter Cookies
This is an incredibly simple cookie recipe that takes only five minutes of active work but will yield up results you might not expect.
The secret ingredient in these cookies is peanut oil, which makes them more like a fudge than a traditional cookie.
The best part about this monkey butter cookie recipe is how versatile it can be.
You can substitute any nut or seed butter for peanut butter if you don’t have any on hand (or prefer something else).
If you want to go even simpler, try using almond butter instead.
You can also swap out the peanuts for chocolate chips, which will give you a little extra kick of sweetness while keeping things pretty low-cal.
If you love peanut butter, but hate its tendency to stick to everything in sight, then you may enjoy this monkey butter cookie recipe as much as we did.
It’s super quick and easy to prepare and requires very few ingredients.
2. Monkey Butter Filling
This monkey butter filling is delicious and perfect for making into cupcakes.
It’s made by pouring melted peanut butter over a layer of crushed graham crackers.
When cooled, you’ve got yourself a wonderfully chocolaty treat that won’t break the bank at the grocery store.
To top off this monkey butter filling, simply spread it between two layers of vanilla wafers before baking.
This gives it a nice crunchy crust that perfectly complements the soft and creamy center inside.
All told, this cake is surprisingly light and fluffy, so it should fill you up better than most desserts.
3. Monkey Butter Chocolate Sauce
For those who want something a bit sweeter, there’s nothing quite like a good chocolate sauce to round out a meal.
However, many people avoid adding anything too rich and heavy to their meals because they fear getting sick.
That’s why this monkey butter chocolate sauce is such a great option — it’s both thick enough to coat the back of a spoon yet still smooth enough to eat straight from a bowl.
This is especially useful when trying to hide food allergies or intolerances within the family.
It doesn’t get much easier than this monkey butter chocolate sauce either.
Just pour your favorite milk chocolate bar into a blender along with 1/4 cup of coconut oil and blend until completely mixed together.
Then, just pour it right onto whatever you’re serving up for dessert tonight!
What Are Some Monkey Butter Substitutes?
One of the most popular desserts is Monkey Butter — a creamy confection made from melted chocolate that has been mixed with peanut butter and sweetened with sugar.
It’s a great treat when you want something rich but not too heavy (like ice cream), and it tastes like caramelized peanuts.
But if you don’t have any peanut butter on hand or can’t get your hands on some, there are plenty of alternatives that taste similar enough to satisfy even the pickiest eaters.
If you love the taste of peanut butter but aren’t able to find it in your local grocery store, you might be surprised at how many different types of “butter” are available these days.
Many brands sell their own versions of peanut butter — including those that use almond milk as well as coconut oil and soybean oil instead of regular vegetable oil.
And while we normally think of peanut butter as being smooth and spreadable, some varieties actually come in chunks and pieces so they can more easily fit into dishes like cookies or brownies.
But what about all of those people who do enjoy peanut butter every once in awhile, but can’t stand the thought of eating it by itself? There are also options out there that mimic the texture of peanut butter but still contain less fat and calories.
One such product is Smart Balance Spread Peanut Butter Light & Fit.
This version contains only 2 grams of saturated fats per tablespoon and is low-fat, trans-fat free, cholesterol free, and sodium free.
Another good option is Kerry Gold Natural Peanut Butter Spread.
Available in both light and chunky varieties, Kerry Gold uses organic peanuts grown without pesticides and GMO crops.
They also boast a high protein content, which makes them an excellent source of complete nutrition for vegetarians and vegans.
The best substitute, however, may be the type that mimics the taste of real peanut butter without having nearly as much fat.
If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to traditional peanut butter, try making your own.
To start, take a look at our guide to homemade peanut butter.
Once you know how to make it yourself, you can experiment to create your perfect blend of crunchy, salty, and sweet flavors.
You don’t need anything fancy like a food processor or blender to whip up a batch of nutty goodness — simply combine equal parts nuts, seeds, and oils until everything is evenly coated and then bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.
What Are Some Common Monkey Butter Flavorings?
There’s nothing wrong with making your own monkey butter at home if you want to save money or you’re allergic to peanuts or have an aversion to the smell of peanut oil.
There are many recipes out there that will help you get started on your own homemade monkey butter.
Here are a few examples from around the web:
For more simple ideas, check out these two recipes here and here.
Both of them use only three basic ingredients – butterscotch chips, peanut oil, and vanilla extract – and they both work well as a substitute for regular butter when cooking.
If you prefer using chocolate instead of butterscotch chips in your monkey butter, try this Chocolate Monkey Butter Recipe or this Chocolate Peanut Butter Monkey Butter recipe.
You can even combine different types of nuts together to create all kinds of amazing combinations.
One thing about monkey butter is that it has quite a strong odor so most people avoid eating it straight off the spoon after stirring.
If you don’t mind smelling like peanut butter (and maybe tasting a little bit of peanut butter) then you should be able to enjoy monkey butter without having to worry about covering up its scent with another flavor.
How Do You Store Monkey Butter?
You can keep Monkey Butter in the refrigerator (it will solidify after several hours), but I prefer storing it at room temperature where it melts quickly.
It’s also good stored in an airtight container on your counter or in the fridge so that it doesn’t solidify as much, which keeps its consistency more like a spreadable paste.
If you’d rather have it be thicker when melted, try freezing it first before melting it down.
Ingredients
- 1 crushed pineapple
- 2 3/4 cups white sugar
- 4-5 ripe bananas thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup coconut
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- ice cream for serving
- glass jars
Instructions
- Over medium-high heat, add the sugar, pineapple (and juices), coconut, and lemon juice to the big saucepan or Dutch oven with the cut bananas. Then, bring to a boil.
- Cook mixture, stirring often, on medium-low heat until it has thickened and decreased. Banana slices will shatter into fragments.
- When the mixture coats the back of a spoon, it is done; remove from the heat and pour into glass jars. Refrigerate until ready to use after allowing to cool.
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My blog is all about creating delicious meals with ingredients that are easy to find in your local grocery store. I’m passionate about making yummy meals that I can share with my friends and family.