You Can Make That!? Nut Butter

Welcome to the first post of a new series on my blog, inspired by my husband. We're calling it "You Can Make That!?" Here's why. There are many common food items we take for granted as un-makeable, only buy-able. Cream of mushroom soup comes in a can. Alfredo sauce comes in a jar. Peanut butter, bread, nutella, jam, granola, applesauce, hot cocoa, mac-n-cheese, pizza, spaghetti sauce... the list goes on and on! And we* assume, that since these things have always** come in packages, that they will forever after only be acquired by purchasing these packages.

However, we have been slowly discovering more things that we can make for ourselves. And the benefits are incredible, particularly in quality and cost. Jordan likes bragging about all our homemade food. Which always elicits the response, "You can make that?"

Yes. Yes you can.

Today I'm spilling the beans on our homemade peanut butter. Nut butter is one of the first things I started making at home. We tried a few versions until we landed on a blend of almonds and peanuts that we really love. You can use any kind of nut you like, depending on what texture of nut butter you prefer. If you like something smooth, creamy, and light, you'll could use peanuts, cashews, or walnuts. Of course, peanuts and cashews have a lot of fat in them. Almonds and hazelnuts will be lower in fat, but will produce a denser butter.

This is more of a method than a recipe. Once you've made one nut butter, you'll have mastered the basic concept so you can branch out from there. Tweak and play with the ratios of nuts until you find one that you really like.

* "We" refers to our generation... the 20-40 somethings who have grown up with the glories of packaged food.

** Well... as long as "we" can remember! But, we forget that anything that now comes in a package once came through a little ingenuity and a little work in the home kitchen.

Homemade Nut Butter

Equipment:

rimmed baking sheet

oven

food processor

Ingredients:

3 cups whole, raw nuts (we use 2 cups almonds and 1 cup peanuts)

a dash each of salt and sugar (about 1 tsp, if you're a measuring sort of person)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour the nuts onto the rimmed baking sheet, making sure they're spread out in a single layer. Toast them in your hot oven for 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them. Don't let them burn! Stir them or turn them over with a pancake flipper once.

Let them cool completely.

Pour the nuts into your food processor. (you'll need a food processor bowl with at least 4 cup capacity.) Plug your ears. This part gets loud. Process the nuts for about 10 minutes, until they turn from nuts into powder into paste into your desired consistency. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl a few times, so you get an even consistency. At around minute 5, the nuts will begin to release their naturally occurring oils, and the butter will get more and more pliable. The butter might also begin to get warm and steam up the processor bowl. Don't worry... nothing's wrong.

Taste the butter, and add salt and sugar to taste. (I find that the combination of toasted nuts and savory-sweet works really well together.)

Pour your butter into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. I use a 2-pint mason jar with a wide mouth. We keep the butter in the fridge, and it never sticks around long enough to go bad. But, you could probably keep it up to a couple months.

Because you're not adding any oil to the butter, you won't have much trouble with separation. If you find your butter separates at all, just stir it back in.