We eat a lot of nut butter in our house, it’s easy to throw in a smoothie or slap on a piece of fruit or bread and go. Last year I scored an inexpensive Vitamix Blender (thank you Craigslist) and have started to make my own nut butters which makes me feel very food nerdy but it’s all smoke and mirrors since it is really simple to make and pretty economical especially if you buy your nuts in bulk. With making all this butter I have started experimenting with some different flavors of nut butters to mix things up.
First a few things about making the butter, and keep in mind I am giving instructions for a Vitamix but have read that any good quality blender including a Nutribullet or a good old fashioned food processor like the one we all still have hanging around the house work just fine. Most instructions say to rapidly turn the mixer up to high to blend the butter but that doesn’t work well for me and the mixer just overheats without all the ingredients being ground. I have found that blending the ingredients on medium until an air pocket forms around the blades, then stopping the mixer and tamping down the ingredients around the blades prevents the mixer from overheating. You may have to do this several times until the ingredients are moving around the blades then you can turn up the mixer to further break everything down. You will most likely need to do this several times until the butter is completely ground and you will have to play with your blender to figure out what works best, but you will figure it out quickly…easy right.
Another thing is that I toast all my nuts. I have tried raw butters but they just don’t have the depth of a roasted nut. toasting the nut brings out the flavor and also brings out the oils which helps with the grinding. You can toast the nuts in the oven or on the stovetop but just make sure to not overcook them especially walnuts, as they get bitter when over cooked.
Chocolate Chile Almond Butter
This butter tasted really good with bananas or in a chocolate based smoothie.
3 Cups Toasted Almonds
1 TBS Oil (any light flavored oil, I like Avocado Oil)
1 TBS 100% Unsweetened Coco Powder
1 TSP Chili Powder
1 TSP Honey – or more to taste
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper – Optional, I like a little kick
1/4 TSP Salt
Put nuts in blender and start blending until the process slows down and an air pocket forms around the blades. Tamp down the nuts around the blades and start the mixer up again and slowly start adding the oil. You may have to stop the blender a few more times before all the oil is mixed into the butter. Once the oil is mixed in and the butter is moving through the blades easily start adding the dry ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed through and finally add in the honey into the blender and mix until you get to the desired consistency. The dry ingredients and the honey will stiffen up your butter so add a little more oil if you would like it a little thinner.
Maple Cinnamon Walnut Butter
I call this my dessert butter since it is pretty sweet. Walnuts tend to be a little bitter so the maple syrup works well to tone that down. No oil is needed for this recipe since walnuts are surprisingly oily and the syrup adds a good amount of moisture. This is a nice butter to put on sliced apples with a little granola sprinkled on top of.
3 Cups Toasted walnuts (very lightly toast the walnuts as overcooked walnuts turn bitter)
1 TBS Oil (any light flavored oil, I like Avocado Oil)
2 TBS Pure Maple Syrup
1 TSP Cinnamon
1/4 TSP Salt
Put nuts in blender and start blending until the process slows down and an air pocket forms around the blades. Tamp down the nuts around the blades and start the mixer up again. Once the butter is moving through the blades easily start adding the maple syrup and the dry ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed through until you get the desired consistency.
Curried Cashew Butter
Yes you read it right…curry. This is one of my favorite butters. I was just playing around and came up with this. It is great on celery or on cucumber and if you make peanut sauce this could be a really fun substitute but I have not tried it yet.
3 Cups Toasted Cashews
1 TBS Oil (any light flavored oil, I like Avocado Oil)
1 TSP Curry Powder (this is to your taste. I like curry so I add more but you might want to add this last and add a little at a time until you get to the amount you like)
1 TSP Honey – or more to taste
1/4 Turmeric…its good for you right, might as well add a little
1/4 TSP Salt
Put nuts in blender and start blending until the process slows down and an air pocket forms around the blades. Tamp down the nuts around the blades and start the mixer up again and slowly start adding the oil. You may have to stop the blender a few more times before all the oil is mixed into the butter. Once the oil is mixed in and the butter is moving through the blades easily start adding the dry ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed through and finally add in the honey into the blender and mix until you get to the desired consistency. The dry ingredients and the honey will stiffen up your butter so add a little more oil if you would like it a little thinner.
I hope you try making nut butter I am very interested hearing about any different uses for these recipes that you come up with or if you come up with even more variations on nut butters.
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