Homemade Peanut Butter

Homemade nut butters have a TON of advantages versus buying them in the store. Homemade nut butters won’t contain the hydrogenated oils, stabilizers, emulsifiers, excess sugars, and salts found in many branded products. Blending your own at home also gives you full control over the peanuts- country of origin, organic or not- while allowing you to mix in other nuts or seeds for a unique blend not available in stores. Homemade peanut butter just tastes fresher.

When buying peanuts, almonds, cashews, or macadamia nuts to make your butter at home it is suggested to use organic raw unsalted nuts.

 

Recipe

Step 1- Roast your nuts of preference at 350 degrees F for 10 to 20 minutes in a shallow baking pan. Only roast one layer deep at a time to ensure even cooking. Stir frequently to prevent burning. Let cool for 15 minutes when roasting is finished.

Leaving the skins on the peanuts give the butter a unique taste and are high in antioxidants. But this is your preference to remove them.

*Skip this step if you prefer a raw diet and like a more greenish toned peanut butter.

Step 2-Place roasted peanuts in a food processor and grind until smooth. Processing may take several minutes. (I use my old school Champion Juicer and it works GREAT.)

*In a food processor the nuts break into a fine crumble mix but after a few minutes they bind together as the natural oil is released.

Step 3- Remove the peanut butter from the food processor (it will be warm) and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

If you prefer a crunchy peanut butter: Make half of a cup (or more) of “chopped” nuts at the start and set them aside. When you’re happy with the consistency, stir in the left over nuts.

For those of you concerned with cost, I did a little cost analysis and you’re saving more than peanuts! I compared the price of my recipe to the peanut butter made only with 100% organic peanuts- figuring out the math on added salts, sugar, and oil is not my idea of a cost effective party. Besides, I only buy peanut butter with one ingredient, and that’s peanuts.

In a nutshell, the store brand organic peanut butter cost $3.69 for 500g and my organic unsalted peanuts cost $10.50 for 5 lbs!! Sounds like a deal to me!!