The Very Last Thing You Should Do with a Jar of Peanut Butter

I love almost everything about peanut butter. It’s only when I’m scrubbing the smudgy remains from the inside of the jar before recycling day that my favorite nutty spread becomes my enemy. And between the broken temperature dial in my refrigerator and my boyfriend’s favorite souvenir mug from Yosemite, I have enough enemies in my kitchen already. 

So I started making my coffee in a nearly empty peanut butter jar. With some hot coffee or espresso and a little shake, those rich, nutty remnants melt into your morning brew. And bonus: The jar practically cleans itself.

I first saw the trick in a TikTok video by food creator Reilly Meehan, and it aligned perfectly with the trifecta of my biggest kitchen goals: curbing food waste, limiting cleanup, and putting peanut butter on everything I possibly can.

Peanut butter’s roasted, fatty flavor complements the acidity and earthiness of coffee, and the duo is a great jumping-off point for more adventurous flavor combinations. The creamy, unsalted variety provides the most neutral backdrop, but I like the extra dimension that a bit of salt adds to coffee so I usually use salted Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. 

The glass jar contains just peanuts and salt, which is neutral enough to still be a blank slate for further dressing up your coffee as you please. It also makes me feel special when I drink my coffee out of the same container I prepared it in.

You can make peanut butter coffee using whatever coffee-making method you prefer. I used to make espresso, but after my espresso machine went to the great café in the sky (RIP), I started making pour-overs directly in the jar, and it works just as well. 

After I add the hot coffee I seal the lid tightly, shake it with gusto to loosen the leftover peanut butter that’s smeared around the sides of the container, and then open the lid to add milk and sweetener.

I like unsweetened soy milk here, but you can add whatever your milk of choice is. I don’t typically use sweetener in my coffee, but I find that maple syrup brings a sugary lift that balances out the fattier, earthier flavors of this nutty beverage. 

For a PB&J-inspired version, use a spoonful of jam as the sweetener instead. I warm the jam for a few seconds in the microwave first to loosen it up so that it dissolves more easily. You can also add ice cubes at this point if you prefer an iced coffee.

When you’re finished, the jar should be pretty much clean. Just give it a quick rinse and it’s ready for the recycling bin. 

Buy: Smucker’s Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, $4.39 for 16 ounces at Amazon

What do you do with your last drop of peanut butter? Tell us about it in the comments.

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: The Very Last Thing You Should Do with a Jar of Peanut Butter (It's Brilliant!)