Better Butter

The secret to homemade nut butter

Here’s the deal, not only is homemade nut butter healthier and tastier than store bought nut butter, it’s also super easy!! I had always wanted to try to make homemade nut butter but it seemed so trivial and time-consuming that I never made an effort, but over the past years I have tried to be more creative with my cooking so I gave it a shot, and it turned out that I was so wrong.

I started out by making the most popular, peanut butter, and then went on to make as many different nut butters as I could. Let me tell you, I had a pretty great time making it and an even better time consuming it. I wanted to share the recipe so that everyone could enjoy it as much as I have.

There are really only four ingredients for homemade nut butter: nut of your choice, salt, organic honey and a light oil with not too much flavor. Honey is always optional but I have found that the nut butter tastes so much better with it so highly recommend using honey. When making the nut butters most people tend to use a food processor but I did not have one on hand so I just used a regular blender and it worked just fine.

Peanut butter: This is the easiest nut butter to make so I would start out with this if you are a beginner a little nervous about this homemade nut butter thing. The first thing you need to do is put about two cups of peanuts into your blender or food processor and turn it on until you start to see the peanuts stick together. Then add a little salt, (depending on if your nuts have already been salted or not), honey, and a little more than a tablespoon of oil. Turn your machine back on until your crushed peanuts turn into peanut butter and then ENJOY with toast, smoothies or apples.

Pecan butter: This butter is a little sweeter so its perfect for dessert. Everything is the same as the peanut butter but the amount of oil, you should put a little less oil as pecans already have a pretty good amount of oil in them and too much added oil will make the butter taste slimy. Homemade pecan butter is good for toast, pies, or even on top of ice-cream for desert. Be creative!

Almond butter: This butter is the hardest one to make because of its texture. I have never quite gotten the perfect buttery texture for almond butter but it has always tasted amazing so I think that makes up for it. Again everything is the same as the peanut butter but the blending time. The almonds have to be blended four minuted before adding salt, honey and oil, and blended four minutes after. Almond butter is good for oatmeal, cereal and, of course, toast.

Cashew butter: MY FAVORITE. I absolutely love cashew butter and would eat it for the rest of my life if I could. Cashew butter is made the same as peanut butter and can be eaten with anything. My most recent sandwich was homemade cashew butter and fresh peaches on daveskillerbread. Another favorite of mine is to put cashew butter in smoothies and on oatmeal. You really can’t beat cashew butter.

I have not tried to make any other nut butters yet, but definitely plan on it! In the meantime try some for me and let me know what you think. Also here are some of my own creations from my own nut butters!!