Blueberry Peanut Butter Cinnamon Smoothie

The peanut-butter-and-blueberry pairing is one of those flavour combinations that nobody intended but everyone benefits from. It's deeply familiar from peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches (blueberry jam, specifically), but in smoothie form it transforms into something closer to blueberry-muffin-batter. The frozen blueberries thicken the smoothie to milkshake consistency; the banana adds creaminess; the peanut butter powder (or paste) ties them together with a savoury- sweet note that you couldn't get from either ingredient alone.

The cinnamon is the small twist that elevates the whole thing. A quarter teaspoon disappears into the colour but transforms the smell — warm, baked-good, faintly autumnal. It's the difference between a blueberry smoothie that tastes like a fruit drink and one that tastes like a dessert that's pretending to be breakfast.

Peanut butter powder (PB2 is the most common brand) is a useful ingredient to keep around — it's defatted peanut butter, so you get the peanut flavour without the oily richness of regular peanut butter gumming up a smoothie. Regular peanut butter works too; just use 1 tablespoon instead of 2 of the powder.