Homemade Peanut Butter

I thought this recipe had to wait in the 'Drafts' folder for a long while because my food processor almost died yesterday while making this homemade peanut butter. After several minutes of chopping and blending I suddenly noticed a weird smell...something wrong was going on. "Oh no! My food processor has died!", I thought. Luckily I gave my poor food processor a break and the peanut butter finally became smooth and spreadable. At that point there was no turning back so, being the stubborn I am and how badly I wanted all-natural homemade peanut butter, I decided to push my processor to the limit and see what happened. Either way the weird burning smell was still present and I was very angry cause my brand new machine disappointed me, so I went for the kamikaze option.

Starting the week with an almost broken food processor wasn't my ideal plan but I learned the lesson well: it is VERY important to invest in a powerful food processor if you want to make your own nut butters, creams and raw desserts. Guess it's time to stop buying nail polishes, lipsticks and kitchen props (they're my addiction!) and save money; all donations are greatly appreciated! ;-)

Making homemade peanut butter or any other nut butter is ridiculously easy if you have a little bit of patience, because it takes several minutes to turn your freshly roasted nuts into smooth, rich, spreadable butter. But believe me, after a few minutes you'll start to see the magic happening! 

All you really need is like 2 cups of raw peanuts, then you can roast them if you want to enhance the flavor: most people roast the nuts in the oven but I think it's kind of a waste of time and energy cause you can get the same results by using a frying pan lightly coated in coconut oil. I prefer this method cause it allows me to control the exact level of roastiness and you know how quickly nuts can burn from one second to another when they are in the oven!

After getting the final butter the fun part begins cause you can put as many add-ins as you wish like salt, a touch of sweetness, spices, chopped peanuts for a crunchy finish or even cocoa powder (or raw cacao powder) to make a chocolatey version! 

I personally like to add a tiny bit of salt and a couple tablespoons of pure maple syrup to get the perfect balance of salty and sweet. So good and so addictive I could dig my spoon and eat it straight out of the jar...or dip apple slices in it! ;-)

Receta en español aquí!

Homemade Peanut Butter

(makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients

2 cups raw, shelled peanuts.

1/4 teaspoon salt.

2 generous tablespoons pure maple syrup, more to taste.*

* You can also use honey or molasses.

Directions

First of all, I recommend to roast the peanuts for a deeper flavor. Simply lightly coat a frying pan with coconut oil and toast the peanuts until they look lightly golden and release a toasty aroma.

Let them cool a bit to prevent the bowl of your food processor from over-heating.

Pulse the 2 cups of freshly roasted peanuts for one minute, until ground. At this point you will have to run the food processor for one minute, stop and scrape down the sides and eventually give your processor a break cause it will get really, really hot.

Don't panic if you see that the gritty butter suddenly starts to clump together and become a ball of dough. Just keep processing, the peanuts will release their natural oils and a few minutes later you will have soft, glossy peanut butter. 

Finally add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and your sweetener of choice (I like to use pure maple syrup for the healthiest version). 

Taste and add more salt or other add-ins like cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, whatever you desire. 

Transfer the peanut butter to a jar, cover and keep refrigerated. 

The butter will firm up in the fridge but if you take it out of the fridge a few minutes before serving it will soften and look glossy again. Nut butters taste better at room temperature.