Do it yourself- Nutbutter!

The Project

So after work on Friday, I went to the store, bought a bunch of different nuts, and set out on a mission.  To experiment creating my own nutbutters.  I've recently become nutbutter obsessed, topping just about every possible breakfast with sunbutter (minus eggs... gross).  The thing is, for that tiny jar of nutbutter, it can be almost 8 dollars depending on the nut (i've seen cashew butter for 11.99!).  That's too much--it's way cheaper to do it yourself.  I wanted to try creating my own butters and my own flavor combinations and if we are being honest, I think I came up with some winning recipes.  I'll provide you with some tips and tricks for making the perfect nutbutter every time.

The Base Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups roasted nuts 
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1.5 tbsp oil (i'd suggest a light color oil, that won't impart a specific flavor to the nutbutter--canola works great)
1.5 tbsp honey

Roasted Nuts- Preheat the oven to 350.  Roast nuts for 10 minutes.

Instructions:
Place nuts in the food processor.  Start blending until smooth.  In total will take about 10-12 minutes.  After your mixture is smooth and creamy (this will happen as you blend the nuts, and oils are released), add your flavorings.  Use the oil as needed to reach your desired texture / consistency.  

Tips and flavor Ideas

Tips:

• Make sure you have a high quality food processor.  Mine is old and the blade is dull, so unfortunately, I was not able to reach the desired creamy texture I was hoping for as I could smell the motor of my food processor burning out for keeping it running for too long.  Be careful of this!
• Roast the nuts yourself.  The oils will release faster this way and you'll create a creamier butter, faster.
• Roast your nuts!  Roasting develops the flavor of the nuts.  
• Create your own unique flavor combinations and add in any extras you want for crunch, flavor, or even a nutritional boost.
• To make crunchy peanut butter, reserve around 1/2 cup of the nuts and blend in at the end.

Flavor Ideas:

• Maple Chia Sunbutter
  Sunflower seeds, maple syrup instead of honey, add 1 tbsp chia seeds
• Chocolate Pretzel Peanutbutter
  Peanuts, honey or agave syrup, 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 cup crushed pretzels
• Vanilla Almond Espresso
  Almonds, honey, 1 tbsp instant coffee, 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Honey Cashew
  Cashews, honey

Photos

Measuring the almonds before roasting in the oven

after about 1 minute

after about 3.5 minutes

after about 7 minutes--starts to stick to sides, resembles graham cracker crust. i promise, you're almost there!

a few minutes after this stage (with a good quality food processor) you should see the oils start to release and the butter will become creamy.

starting to form into a butter. almost there!

not as creamy as I would have hoped, but here it is! maple chia almond butter.

last step--enjoy! I like pretzels with my nutbutter.