Have I told you all that lately I’ve been all about the homemade nut butter? I’ve always been a huge peanut butter fan, there’s just something lovely about nutty spreads, but it wasn’t until a year or so ago that I even tried another kind of nut butter. It all started with almond butter (from TJ’s I think?). I loved its sweetness and the way it was so similar, yet sooo different from the peanut butter I was so used to.
Almond butter, however, is usually more expensive than peanut butter, so I found that to be a big deterrent. It all comes down to the price point when I’m nervously assessing my credit card bill. Then I realized that I could make my own butters. I wasn’t sure if it was necessarily that much cheaper, but I didn’t yet have my lovely food processor, so it was a moot point for a while anyway.
Well, as you know, I finally got a mini processor a month or so ago, so I’ve been experimenting with nut butters! Finally! I have to admit, that was 75% of the reason I really wanted to get one. I was so ready to mix and match and experiment.
The first nut butter I made was a walnut-almond butter. I had a weird amount of both nuts, so I decided to just mix them together. Well let me tell you, I was extremely pleased with the results of the experiment. The almonds had that sweetness I mentioned before, and the walnuts added a darker nuttiness. Basically, the stuff was bomb.
But, alas, nuts are expensive! I wanted to experiment with cashew butter (and raw recipes that call for cashews, it seems to be THE nut for raw recipes), but was appalled at how expensive those little things are. And almonds, too. Basically nuts in general are crazy expensive, it’s just nuts (haaar haaar).
I saw that there were bulk bins of almonds with their hulls (is that the right word?) still on, and decided to see if maybe that process would be more cost effective. Plus, wouldn’t it be fun to crack some nuts? (haaar haaaaar)
So I bought a bag, brought them home, and set off with le boyfriend on a nut cracking mission. We smacked them against the countertop with our bare hands (okay, he did that, not me) until it occurred to us that my kitchen scissors have built in nutcrackers. What a revelation that was. And it made the going much quicker and less painful. Yeah, there was still a ton of almond hulls floating around the kitchen, but our palms stayed more or less intact and out of harm’s way.
After those little things were shelled (hulled?) I set about the process of actually making the butter. Which is, of course, just about the simplest recipe you could share: (1) put nuts in processor, (2) process until they reach the right consistency, (3) eat.
At first I was not convinced that they nutty flour would ever become a butter without any help from water or oil, but as I patiently processed and scraped the bowl I was amazed to see the nuts release their own oil. It was crazy amazing, the nut butter just made itself happen.
So there we go, a nut butter update. I highly suggest doing it yourself too, if you’re not already (seems like a lot of people are). I just feel so satisfied and happy whenever I spread it on a pb&j or spoon it into my yogurt and oats. Perf!
The Drunk Squash