The nut butter quest

I have been on a quest to make the perfect homemade nut butter. This will take a while, but the results-- every batch-- has been delightful.

Once I master texture, I'm going to turn my attention to nut blends. But not yet...

Today I have reached true nut butter consistency. Not gritty but butter. But smooth!

I still think the secret -- as those who came before me say -- is patience with the food processor. Grind, scrape, grind scrape. Forever and a day.

So this is what I did for my latest:

I poured some water into approximately one cup of mixed raw nuts. That was what was left in the jar. I let them soak two hours and drained.

I tossed them in the food processor with one tablespoon room temperature coconut oil and one teaspoon local raw honey.

And I hit the magic button. Round and round she spins. When you stop seeing nuts flying around, you scrape. Repeat. Scrape. Repeat. At first the texture will be chopped nuts, then it will be chopped nuts that somehow stick together. Keep scraping and processing and eventually when the spinning starts, a ball forms and the ball gets bigger! Scrape, process, scrape, process.

And when your patience is completely spent, you give up and eat what you created.

Mixed nut butter

As anyone you read last night's entry will know, I found some mixed raw nuts on clearance at Target last night. I prefer to buy my nuts raw and unsalted so this seemed like a good deal.

The mix includes hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pistachios and almonds so I thought I could make a mixed nut butter.

I started with one cup nuts. Didn't roast them or soak them or anything. Just dumped them in the food processor. Added a generous dollop of local raw honey, about 2-3 tablespoons full, and about 1/4 cup warm coconut oil.

After the initial 5-7 minutes of grinding and scraping, I feared I wouldn't hit the creamy texture my family has been requesting. So I thought it would be a good idea to add about three tablespoons water.

Then I had nut soup.

I added another 1/4 cup and ground another 5-7 minutes until my patience ran out.

So it's chunky nut butter. Tastes fine, but not as perfectly scrumptious as the almond cashew butter last time. But I intentionally wanted something simpler and with less ingredients.

We'll see how it tastes when the family gets home.

Breakfast banana cookies

No school today.

Breakfast for the little one is Girl Scout shortbread cookies, homemade nut butter and banana, stacked up like an open-faced sandwich.

Homemade deluxe nut butter

So, child and I embarked on our first nut butter adventure in a hand-me-down food processor with a cute French name.

I had roasted my raw almonds after a hearty soak. The cashews came roasted but unsalted.

This yielded almost a quart of nut butter. I was surprised at how much it made!

Child and I ground everything in stages, constantly scraping down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula when the blade began to struggle.

- one cup cashews
- one cup almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
- 2 tablespoons local raw honey
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- about four tablespoons water (toward the end)

Scrumptious. Perhaps to heavy on the honey. Texture reminiscent of Cream of Wheat.

Nut Butter

I haven't cooked much or cleaned much or faced the fact that there's a major food-themed holiday tomorrow. I have enough trouble remembering to put on my socks.

Today's breakfast was fresh strawberries, Bolthouse farms blue (berry) smoothie, and wheat toast with almond-cashew-peanut butter.

The nut butter came from Target, the Archer Farm store brand. I love almond butter, but my daughter hates it. She prefers cashew butter. So this seemed like a good compromise.

What's weird is I can distinctly taste all three flavors.

I like Target's selection of nut butters. The jars are small, but that makes them a reasonable splurge and makes it fun to try new flavors. Like this one.

Nut butters are a quick, fun protein.