How to Make Your Own Nut Butters at Home
Nutty spreads add tasty nutrition to your eats, treats, and baking adventures. Dig peanut spread almond paste, cashew spread, or some wild mix? Whipping up your own at your place ain't hard, saves you cash, and feels pretty awesome. You get to pick what goes in, and jazz up the flavors how you fancy.
We're about to show you how to craft nut spreads in your kitchen, toss you some handy hints, and chat about all the cool ways to dig into your DIY nutty delights.
1. Benefits of Making Nut Butters at Home
Control Over Ingredients: When you grab jars of nut butters off supermarket shelves, they are generally full of junk things like extra sugar bad fats to keep these products fresh for eons and artificial flavors. Make them at home, and you can choose every ingredient to remain all-natural and pick whatever you fancy.
Customization: Like tweaking stuff to be just how you like it? Making nut butters lets you do just that. Whether you're all about super smooth dig a bit of crunch, want a hint of sweetness, or a dash of salt, it's up to you.
Cost-Effective: Got sticker shock from those fancy nut butters the ones that say "organic"? Taking the DIY route means more cash stays in your pocket over time.
Freshness: The homemade nut butter has freshness that just explodes all over the room. It can be eaten there and then or saved to eat at a later time.
2. Must-Have Ingredients
Whipping up nut butter is super simple cause you don't need much. Wanna whip up some basic nut butter at home? Here's all you gotta have:
Basic Ingredients:
Nuts: Grab any nuts you like – peanuts, almonds cashews, you name it. Oh, and sunflower or pumpkin seeds work too.
Oil (Optional): If ya want your nut butter super smooth, consider throwing in a bit of oil. Olive coconut, or something plain like sunflower or grapeseed all do the trick.
Salt (Optional): A dash of salt makes your nut spread taste even better perfect if you're into that savory thing. Sea salt's cool if you're feeling fancy.
Sweetener (Optional): Because something sweet is on your mind, honey, maple syrup, or agave juice would be great additions. A lot of people go for this twist whilst making peanut or almond butter.
Extra Zest (Optional): Wanna jazz it up? Cinnamon vanilla, chocolatey cocoa dust, or a smidge of sea salt can do wonders for your nut spread.
3. How to Make Nut Butter: Step-by-Step
Step 1: Choose Your Nuts
First, decide which nut for your nut butter. Most people just go ahead with peanuts, almonds, or cashews. After choosing on raw or toasted, that is a real taste preference for you. Toasting makes nuts taste a little better, but that is your own decision.
Step 2: Prepare the Nuts
Got raw nuts? Giving them a quick roast can amp up the taste big time. Here's the deal to roast 'em:
Turn your oven on to get hot making it reach 350°F (175°C).
Toss your nuts all over the baking tray.
So make sure you do roast those nuts well for 10-15 minutes and turn them halfway because burning is sure to happen if one leaves them unattended! They change from being golden to absolutely nothing in no time, so keep an eye on them.
Step 3: Blending the Nuts
Ready with those nuts? Good! Now send them flying into a food processor or maybe your wicked fast blender, and whirl them into nut butter. Smooth or chunky, it's all up to you.
Add the Nuts: Dump like 2 cups of nuts into your food chopper or smash-blender thingy.
Process the Nuts: Just go for it and start whizzing those nuts. Might take a bit, but chill alright? They're gonna look pretty chunky at first.
Stop and Scrape: Every now and then, hit the off button and give the insides a good ol' scrape. We're aiming for no nut left behind.
Add Oil (Optional): Want this one thicker? Add some extra fats and let the blades whirl in their dance. Just a little while and tablespoon at a time, keep the pace steady while you pour. Don't stop, until everything comes together just the way you want it.
Add Sweeteners and Flavorings (Optional): When your nut butter becomes creamy, add some salt, a little sugar stuff, or just a tastiness like cinnamon, chocolate powder, or gooey vanilla. Give it a good whirl again.
Step 4: Adjust Texture
Now's the time to pick whether you'd like your nut butter crunchy or all smooth:
Smooth Nut Butter: Just keep blending those nuts until they're super creamy.
Chunky Nut Butter: When it's as crunchy as you like, you can stop. Or, yeah, take some nuts out before blending and mix 'em in after for more crunch.
Step 5: Store Your Nut Butter
Success with the ideal nut butter texture and flavor: swoop into an airtight container. Refrigerate for about 2-3 weeks, although let's face it-it's going to get eaten a lot sooner than that!
4. Popular Nut Butter Recipes to Try
Whipping up nut spread in your own kitchen means you can go wild with the varieties. Check out these famous options and ideas that'll spark your creation:
Peanut Butter
Ingredients: A single layer of peanuts sprinkled with a pinch of salt, or, for a sweeter version, some honey or maple syrup, is all you need.
What to Do: Only the main steps for making nut spread shall be followed. Do you want that traditional peanut spread taste? Just skip the oil and grind your roasted peanuts to the point of becoming creamy. Season with salt to your liking, and if you want to add sweetness, pour in some honey or maple syrup.
Almond Butter
Ingredients: Almonds optional oil salt, extract of vanilla.
How to make it: If you want your almonds more tasty toast 'em before you start. When you blend 'em, throw in a smidge of salt and a little vanilla extract for that awesome taste boost.
Cashew Butter
Ingredients: Those cashew nuts optional coconut oil salt.
How to do it: 'Cause cashews are already super creamy, they're perfect for making your nut butter mega smooth. Give the cashews a quick toast to up the flavor game, blend 'em until they're all creamy, and pop in some coconut oil if you're after that extra silky feel.
Hazelnut Butter
Ingredients: Hazelnuts, plus a touch of salt, and if desired, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.
Instructions: Hazelnuts can be flavored very nicely and can also be processed into a glorious nut spread. Roast them, then process them down into bits in the blender. It's simply magic; sweetener makes the taste come alive.
5. Fun Ideas to Enjoy Your DIY Nut Butters
When you've got your nut butter all set, there's a ton you can do with it. Peep these fun uses:
Slather nut butter on toast for a quick yummy treat. Throw on some fruits, a drizzle of honey, or a dollop of jam to jazz it up.
Chuck a spoonful into your smoothie to give it that thick lush taste.
Whip out some nut butter for a wholesome munch. Dunk chunks of apple, carrot sticks, or some crispy crackers into it.