Want to make your dessert a little extra special? Learn how to make Homemade Peanut Butter Whipped Cream from scratch! With only 4 ingredients, 5 minutes of whipping time, and no leftovers, you’ll never buy canned whipped cream again. Makes a small batch of whipped cream for two servings.
Today I’m bringing you my second whipped cream recipe in my miniseries – Small Batch Peanut Butter Whipped Cream!
Recently I posted my Small Batch Homemade Whipped Cream and Small Batch Homemade Chocolate Whipped Cream. If you thought those recipes were good, I found a way to make them even better.
Peanut butter whipped cream is nothing new on this blog. I’ve been pairing it with hot chocolate for years. After all, chocolate and peanut butter is the best duo ever.
After years of making it, I figured out how to scale down whipped cream to make a small batch, which makes enough whipped cream for two servings.
Since whipped cream isn’t something that lasts more than 1-2 days, you end up throwing away the leftovers.
Who wants to throw out peanut butter whipped cream?!
Not to mention I’ve been making this recipe way before companies started selling canned peanut butter whipped cream.
With only 4 ingredients and 5 minutes of whipping time, you will never buy canned again.
The ingredients for homemade peanut butter whipped cream are simple – cold heavy whipping cream, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
I highly recommend buying heavy whipping cream instead of whipping cream (without the word heavy in it).
Although both produce silky whipped cream, heavy whipping cream has a little more milk fat at 36%, which whips better and holds its shape more.
Whipping cream only has 30% milk fat, so it’s a little lighter and a little more time sensitive. That means it won’t hold its shape as much.
If you’re eating the whipped cream right away, especially if it’s going to melt on hot chocolate, using either type of cream will work.
However, if you need it to last longer, such as on top of a pie, you’ll want to use heavy whipping cream.
Learning how to make whipped cream is so easy, you’ll wonder why you bother buying canned whipped cream.
I always have heavy cream in my fridge, so it’s much easier (and faster) to make my own than run to the store.
First, you want to start with cold cream, a cold bowl, and a cold beater. But I have a confession:
I never chill my bowl or beater before whipping.
Starting with a cold bowl certainly helps, but truth is I never remember until I actually start to make it, then I get too impatient and lazy to wait an extra 15 minutes to chill.
Chilling is more necessary if your kitchen is super hot, especially in the summer, but it’s certainly not a disaster if you forget to chill.
I feel like I’m committing a cardinal kitchen sin admitting that, but I’m keeping it real.
You do, however, want to always start with cold cream. Which is even better because then you don’t have to wait for it to come to room temperature.
Next, you want to start beating both the cream and peanut butter on high speed until the cream starts to thicken.
Make sure you’re using creamy peanut butter and not crunchy peanut butter. You don’t want bits of peanut to interfere with the whipping.
At this point, gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla to sweeten up the cream.
Keep beating on high speed until stiff peaks start to form. This means when you pull the beater straight up, peaks will form in the cream and will not fall over.
This takes anywhere from 3-5 minutes, depending on the speed of your mixer (or your arm muscles).
If the tops of the peaks do fall over, that is the soft peak stage, which means you still have a few more minutes of beating left.
Once you reach the stiff peak stage, stop beating. If you go further than that, it’ll get grainy then eventually turn into butter.
If you do find yourself with overbeaten whipped cream, add in another tablespoon or so of cream to help smooth it out.
So, how DO you make whip a small amount of cream?
With 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, you can still whip it up in a 5 quart stand mixer bowl with your whisk attachment. That’s the method I prefer.
However, you can use a smaller bowl and a hand mixer. I find using a hand mixer doesn’t whip in as much air, but the difference is minor when you serve it.
If you find yourself without a mixer, you can certainly whip the cream by hand with a whisk. Not only does this build arm strength, the whipped cream will taste better since a lot more love went into making it.
Using 1/4 cup heavy cream means you’ll have about 2 servings of whipped cream, perfect for small batch desserts.
If you find yourself cutting that in half to literally only 1 serving, you will probably have to use a hand mixer because the stand mixer bowl will be too big for 2 tablespoons cream.
You can also re-whip deflated cream to put more air back into it. Be careful you don’t overwhip it into butter.
Additionally you can freeze whipped cream to make it last even longer, about 2 months or so.
Portion the whipped cream onto a cookie sheet (either piped or spooned), freeze until firm, then transfer them to a freezer-safe bag.
That way, they’re ready to go for hot chocolate and individual desserts.
Recipes Using Peanut Butter Whipped Cream
Now that you made homemade peanut butter whipped cream, here are some the desserts you can serve with it:
- Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate
- Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolate
- Thick Hot Chocolate For One
- Buckeye Ice Cream Cake (you’ll need to multiple the recipe for this, but it’ll be worth it)
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Mug Cake
- Peanut Butter Cheesecake
Small Batch Homemade Peanut Butter Whipped Cream
Learn how to make Small Batch Homemade Peanut Butter Whipped Cream from scratch! With only 4 ingredients and 5 minutes of whipping time, you'll never buy canned whipped cream again.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cold heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter (not crunchy)
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large cold mixing bowl on medium-high speed (with whisk attachment if using a 5 quart stand mixer), beat the heavy cream and peanut butter until it starts to thicken, about 1 minute.
- Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla then continue beating until stiff peaks form (when you pull the beater up, peaks will form and not fall over), about 3-4 minutes.
- Serve immediately. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The longer it sits, the more it'll deflate but will still be edible.
Notes
Additionally you can freeze whipped cream to make it last even longer, about 2 months or so. Portion the whipped cream onto a cookie sheet by either piping or spooning, freeze until firm, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag.
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Joyce says
Suggestion. Try the powdered peanut butter as you would cocoa. Should be available at some stores in Pittsburgh.
Carla says
Great suggestion! I know I can find powdered peanut butter, but I used from the jar instead because most of my readers don’t have powdered peanut butter and won’t want to buy it. However, if you have it, you can certainly use it! Pair it with some cocoa powder for an extra flavor boost.
Katie says
I didn’t have whipped cream however I did have traditional vanilla ice cream made with cow’s milk.
It turned out more like a frosting mixture it worked with my gramcrackers and that’s all I needed.
Here’s my edit:
Take the 1/4 measuring cup and put it under hot running water for about a minute.
Take out the vanilla ice cream, use the 1/4 cup to scoop.
In a small bowl, microwave the ice cream for 12 seconds, it should still be cool and slightly melted not fully though.
Mix in the ice cream with the powdered sugar and peanut butter (creamy). Stir until it’s an frosting like consistency.
Enjoy
~~~ thanks so much for your recipe, hope to make it for real next time.
Carla says
Didn’t realize you could use ice cream! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Anna L says
Wonderful delicious whipped up beautifully!
Carla says
Perfect!
Kylie says
This did not work for me!! I was mixing the heavy cream and peanut butter for just under a minute then followed the instructions exactly and in less than 45 seconds I had made butter!?? I don’t know what went wrong but I did follow your recipie, even added more heavy cream and tried again once I made butter. I mean its not so bad because I have a sweet spread for bread now but I’m very disappointed with this recipe.
Carla says
Hmm the only way you could’ve beaten the cream into butter if you beat it for 4-5 minutes. You don’t get butter after beating barely 2 minutes unless you have a super sonic mixer. With that said, let’s go over your ingredients. What kind of cream did you use – was it heavy whipping cream? Not light whipping cream? Was it expired? What kind of peanut butter? Was it processed PB like Skippy or Jif or was it all natural?
Kara says
this happened to me too the first time I made it. I used white sugar the second time and put all ingredients in right away and whipped until stiff peaks and it was great!
Carla says
Hmmm it should still work with the powdered sugar. What size bowl did you use? What kind of cream did you use? How cold was everything? What brand of peanut butter?
Jessica says
Same thing happened here. Chilled metal bowl in the freezer. Added peanut butter and heavy cream. Within 30 seconds it was thick thick thick. Slowly added powdered sugar and vanilla and it started to curdle. Adding more cream and sugar in hopes it will develop into some sort of frosting as I have a dinner in less then an hour!
Carla says
What brand and type of peanut butter did you use? Regular, low fat, natural, organic, etc etc. Also how big was your bowl? What kind of mixer did you use? Or did you try whipping by hand?
Hollis Ramsey says
In the comments, when someone’s PB whipped cream didn’t turn out right, you asked:
—What kind of peanut butter? Was it processed PB like Skippy or Jif or was it all natural?
—What brand of peanut butter?
—What brand and type of peanut butter did you use? Regular, low fat, natural, organic, etc etc.
I’d like to know your recommendation for brand/type of peanut butter. I read over this entire entry several times to see if I’d missed where you’d specified, but unless I missed it, you did not say anything beyond “creamy, not crunchy.” Could you update the body of your text? I wonder if I could make this in a Mason jar or if I need a whisk to break up PB clumping. Maybe it depends on the brand?
(p.s. I also always have heavy whipping cream in my fridge.)
Carla says
I used processed, regular-fat store-brand peanut butter (similar to Skippy and Jif, just not their brands). I have not made this recipe using natural or organic and was wondering if others used those types because usually the oil is separated in the jars and sometimes isn’t as smooth.