Nut Butters (aka Peanut Butter, Cashew Butter, not the kind that moo's)

Aaa. Another food made out of nuts. What a great piece of food. The mighty nut! I could get poetic but nawww. It's been the last few years now that nut butters have taken off. First, as we all know it's the kid brands of peanut butter full darkness and a future of lost dreams. Then we got all organic or all natural with peanut butter and then it took an exotic spin to cashew and almond butters. Supposedly, Nutella was (once) good for you because it had hazelnut butter in it. Well, lets be honest, none of the store bought nut butters are any good for anyone. The back of each and every single one has a label (most likely) filled with sugars, salts, thickening agents, oils, the Dark side, etc.  Now, it's been a while since I've lived in America, maybe there are better options. Though, there's no better option then the one you make by yourself.

You can get quite creative with nut butters. A few months ago it seemed like every nut was available in the stores here. I made a nut butter with walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds (all at once!). It tasted great and healthy! Seed butters are also popular. The super expensive  tahini (at least it was in Guangzhou)  is made from sunflower seeds. You can get super creative with just one nut as well. I saw recipes for a cinnamon walnut butter, chocolate hazelnut (sound familiar), and so forth.

Some advice if you're doing this for the first time. A food processor is always great but a blender is just fine. Start off with a cup of whatever cooked nut you want. Sometimes peanuts come with a thin skin (not the shell duh)... I still processed it fine. Now, be patient when blending. You may have to stop the machine a few times (esp if you are using a blender) and scrape down the walls. Resist the urge to add oil. Trust me in two to five minutes of blending it'll come together. Just like in my video: http://youtu.be/TYynSWIvcsY

If you'd like a creamer consistency use 1 tbsp of an oil (coconut is always preferred) and keep adding a tbsp at a time until you are happy. However, I never really need it, though I've done it once and it was a pretty tasty nut butter.

Lets think of another reason why we use peanut butter. If we're making Thai noodles we don't want to use a too sweeten version of the nut butter, now do we precious? Most smoothies and sandwiches are going to have an already sweetened element in them, whether it's a banana or jelly, why should our peanut butter also be covered in sugar. So when making yours think reasonably in how you are going to use it and challenge the notion of sweetening it.

So here's the video: http://youtu.be/TYynSWIvcsY

My nuts in the blender

Precious nut butter

Ingredients:
1 cup roasted nuts and/or seeds
Optional ingredients:
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
Optional flavors:
cinnamon
chocolate

1. If you're nuts/seeds aren't already roasted, place raw nuts/seeds on a baking sheet and cook for about 10 minutes at around 170C. You are looking for a little bit of roasting, some browning on one side. Please keep an eye on them if you've not done this before.
2. Let cooked nuts/seeds cool for around 15-20 minutes.
3. Blend cooled nuts/seeds in a food processor or blender scrapping the sides when necessary, for around 2 to 5 minutes.
4. Optional: for creamer nut butter add a tablespoon of oil at a time. Additional flavors can be added as well.
5. Nom nom nom!