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The Pike County Extension Office and the Brundidge Historical Society came together to host the first ever Virtual Peanut Butter Recipe Contest during what “normally” would have been Peanut Butter Festival week in Brundidge.

The Peanut Butter Festival, harvest and heritage celebration began in 1991 as a way to recognize the town’s proud heritage in agriculture and its just as proud heritage in the peanut butter industry.

“Brundidge had two of the earliest peanut butter mills in the Southeast,” said Lawrence Bowden, BHS president.  Arguably, the J.D. Johnston Peanut Butter mill was the first in this part of the country. In 1928, Johnston began grinding out peanut butter in a crude mil. A couple of years later, the Johnson brothers, Grady and Oscar, opened the Louis-Anne Peanut Butter Mill on the side end of town.”

Bowden said the peanut butter mills helped sustain the people of Brundidge during the Great Depression by providing jobs, and, thus, some measure of income, and also providing them with an affordable and good source of protein.

“The Louis-Anne Peanut Butter Mill was named in honor of Mr. Grady Johnson’s children. His son, Louis or Buddy, was a pilot during World War II and flew for Gen. Montgomery. It has been told, that the general allowed Buddy to paint the Louis-Anne label on the nose cone of his plane but we have not found substantial evidence of that.”

Anne (Anise) was to married Jeff Sorrell of Saco. The couple’s donation of more than $4 million laid the groundwork for the Sorrell College of Business at Troy University.

“Louis and Anne each left a legacy here in Pike County,” Bowden said.

The history of the Peanut Butter Festival aside, Bowden expressed appreciation to Pike County Extension Coordinator Abby Peters and her staff for the lead role they played in making the Virtual Peanut Butter Festival Recipe Contest a success.

“They made this year’s contest possible,” Bowden said.

“We could not have done it without them. We look forward to working with Pike County Extension in the future with the recipe contest and other endeavors.”

Peters said, likewise.

“We really enjoyed participating in the recipe contest and are looking forward to being a part of it again next year,” Peters said. “The response to the Peanut Butter Recipe Contest as very good, especially given the short amount of time and with the restrictions of COVID-19. We thank all who entered and helped make the contest a success.”

Cooks and/or recipe collectors were invited to send in their favorite peanut butter recipe.  They were not asked to prepare the recipe, just enter it.

“We had 25 entries and, at Extension, we picked the top 10,” Peters said, adding that in order to best judge the ‘recipes,’ the Extension staff actually prepared recipes of the finalist.

“We prepared the recipes at home and brought them to the office to be judged. And, they were all very good and it was hard to pick three winners.”

When all of the recipes were tasted, and tasted once again, three winners were named, Dianne Brown of Banks won first place, Annette Bryan of Brundidge won second place and Mernette Bray of Troy won third place.

The Peanut Butter Festival Recipe Contest will hopefully be back next year “for real” so, get out the cookbooks and be ready!

Double Chocolate

Peanut Butter Cookies

Diane Brown

First Place

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped

2 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

2 sticks softened unsalted butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

12 ounces milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

In double boiler over boiling water, melt semi-sweet chocolate chips. Set aside to cool.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

Combine brown and white sugar in medium bowl

Add butter to dry ingredients and add peanut butter, mix until smooth.

Beat eggs, vanilla and milk chocolate chips and pour into mixture.

Drop 3 tablespoons of mixture 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 23 minutes. Put onto wire rack to cool. 2 dozen servings.

Annette’s Chocolate

Peanut Butter Pie

(original recipe)

Annette Bryan

Second Place

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons coca

2 tablespoons corn starch

3 eggs, separated

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Sift together dry ingredients. Beat egg yolks well with fork. Add to dry mixture. Pour milk into a medium boiler. Then add the dry ingredients and egg mixture. Turn to medium heat and simmer constantly until thick. Set aside and add peanut butter and vanilla flavoring. Mix well with a big spoon. Pour into pre-baked 9-inch pie shell.

Meringue

3 egg whites

½ cup sugar

teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Place egg white in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 tablespoon sugar.  Let set until the pie filling is in the pie shell. Now, beat egg white with electric mixer, adding sugar and while beating. When stif, add vanilla and beat again. Now, pick up the salt shaker, give a couple of shake into the egg white. Beat again until stiff. Cover pie filing and seal edges. Bake for 30 minute on 300-degree pre-heated oven. Sometimes, I bake 40 minutes.

Homemade Peanut

Butter Cups

(Like Reese’s)

Mernette Bray

Third Place

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups graham cracker, crushed

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

2 cup peanut butter

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 tablespoons peanut butter

1. Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray with cooking spray.

2. Mix together butter, graham crackers and confectioners’ sugar and 1 cup of peanut butter.

3. Press about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of mixture into the bottom of muffin liners.

4. Melt the chocolate chips and 4 tablespoons of peanut butter together.

5. Spoon over the filling and smooth the tops with a spoon.

6. Put in the fridge until set.

7. Don’t forget to share!