November 11, 2012

Homemade Peanut Butter

With the recent peanut butter recalls due to salmonella, I have been holding off on buying peanut butter.  After returning recalled peanut butter to Costco, I picked up some peanut butter from Whole Foods, which was recalled.  Then, after returning that, peanut butter from Target was recalled.  Since I usually put a swirl of peanut butter into my breakfast oatmeal, I've missed my morning protein.  More importantly, my "three year old puppy" has missed getting his daily glucosamine in peanut butter.


"Quid pro quo.  Peanut butter for the pillow."  

While at Costco over the week end, I purchased a gigantic container of peanuts to make my own peanut butter with my food processor.  Wow, homemade peanut butter is good stuff - really good stuff.  It is so easy to make!

To make peanut butter, you need a food processor or an industrial blender, like a VitaMix.  (If you try this in a regular blender, it will likely start smoking.)  When I first turned the food processor on, the peanuts were crushed into a fine powder.  As the food processor continued, the peanuts were converted into a paste, and the paste then became a "dough ball."  When the peanuts reached the "dough ball" stage, I stopped the food processor to scrape the sides of the bowl.  After the food processor ran for a few more minutes, the peanut mixture became runny and then turned into very smooth, creamy peanut butter. 







If you desire a chunkier peanut butter, I would suggest processing the peanut butter until it is creamy, and then adding a handful of peanuts at the very end to achieve that chunky texture.

I added a small amount of coconut oil because it holds the peanut butter together so that the butter does not get top oily or bottom dry.  With the oil, the peanut butter also spreads more smoothly after refrigeration and does not get runny.

In the future, I will try more flavored varieties of peanut butter.  For instance, a dash of cinnamon or a splash of vanilla extract would add deeper, sweeter flavor.  Or, you could go the decadent route and add some cocoa powder with chocolate chips.  Substituting honey roasted peanuts would be a great option to try, too.

Homemade peanut butter is simple, tastier, cheaper, and healthier.  Give it a try!

Homemade Peanut Butter
Yields 1 1/2 cups 

Ingredients:
16 oz. shelled and skinned roasted peanuts
1 1/2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of honey (add more if you desire a sweeter peanut butter)
Salt, if desired

Directions:
Place the peanuts, coconut oil, and honey into the bowl of a food processor.  Process until creamy and smooth.  (Note: it took 5 minutes for the peanut butter to reach a very creamy consistency.)  While processing, periodically stop the food processor and scrape the sides of the bowl.

Once the peanut butter has reached desired consistency, place into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to a month.

Source: A Simply Sweet Justice Original

3 comments:

  1. I've only tried making peanut butter once and obviously I quit before it was finished and thought, "I'm not going to eat a baseball of peanut butter" and tossed it away.

    Silly me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've BEEN saying what a genius you are and this just proves it!

    ReplyDelete

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