Homemade Cashew Butter...

I am the queen of junk food. My weakness is salty food. Put a bag of chips in front of me and its gone in 30 minutes; but recently I have been realizing the harm of over processed food. I bought a cook book called the Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids. A lot of this book talks about the harm of over processed foods and encourages you with substitutions you can make in your home and diet.

My friend Courtney recently got me on a kick of toast with peanut butter honey and some sort of fruit on top. It sounds relatively healthy until I started reading this book. Have you ever read the ingredients on the back of a peanut butter jar!? There is a lot more than peanuts on that label. The author of the Eat-Clean Diet says if you can't pronounce the words or there is a long list of ingredients, stay away! She suggested substituting a nut butter for peanut butter and that is where I got the idea to try and make it myself. There are two ingredients in my nut butter vs. the long list of who knows what on the peanut butter label at your local grocery mart.

I chose to use cashews but you can use whatever you have around your house, or whatever kind of nut you prefer.

Since this was somewhat of an experiment I only used 1/3 of a cup of cashews but feel free to make a larger quantity if you wish.

Step 1: Roast your nuts for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees to bring out the natural oils. Then place into your food processor and blend for about 15 minutes.



Step 2: Stop every so often to scrape of the sides with a rubber spatula. Be patient. It does take awhile to get to the right consistency.



Step 3: My cashew butter eventually formed into a ball and that is when I added a small drop of olive oil and blended for another few seconds until it was a creamy consistency. If you are making a larger amount of nut butter use more olive oil. I would just put in a small amount at a time until you have a consistency you are happy with.





Step 4: ENJOY!



I can't wait to try other variations of this. I would love to do something with cinnamon and vanilla next time. Share what kinds of creations you came up with!