Written By Sam Henselijn
Nut Butters. Nuts are among the healthiest foods around. And one of the ways we love to enjoy our nuts is in the form of spreads and nut butters that you can put on so many different dishes. Sadly, store-bought versions can be not only costly, but also come with a list of hard to pronounce additions and not-so-great ingredients.
The solution is learning how to make your own nut butters at home. Homemade tastes better, is healthier, and also a lot cheaper. Plus, they’re highly customizable, versatile, and easy to make. Here are some tips on how to make nut butters.
Follow this step-by-step guide to learn how.
What you’ll need:
- Raw or natural nuts – You can use almost any type of nut when making nut butter.
- A food processor fitted with a metal blade or high speed blender.
Optional:
- Different flavors – Cacao, chocolate chips, maple syrup, honey, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, a pinch of salt… You can flavor your nut butter however you like.
- Coconut oil – strictly speaking, you don’t need to add any extra oil to homemade nut butters. With enough time and patience, they’ll gradually turn smooth. But a trick for extra creamy and luscious nut butters is adding a fat like coconut oil, which stays solid at room temperature.
Step by Step
Making nut butters at home is a simple process that only takes about 20 minutes. Here’s how to do it.
- If toasting the nuts, preheat oven to 325 F and spread a single layer of nuts on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow nuts to cool until they’re warm, but not hot.
- It’s time to process. Place the nuts in a food processor or high-speed blender and process until smooth, about 10-15 minutes. Don’t let the blender run for too long or it can overheat. Blend on 1 minute intervals, stopping to scrape the sides of the blender as you go. You’ll notice that the nuts will go through various stages. First, they’ll look like large crumbs, then they’ll start clumping up into a big ball. Eventually, it will go from a gritty padre into a smooth and creamy nut butter. (If you wish, add a small amount of coconut oil halfway through blending)
- If you wish to add any flavorings, do so now and pulse until combined.
- Place the nut butter in a tightly sealed jar, and store in the fridge. It will last about 1 week to ten days.
Choose your nuts
This method works for peanuts, almonds, cashews… Any of these would produce a creamy and smooth nut butter. Feel free to also use a combination of your favorite nuts to create a different flavor profile.
Blanching nuts
Using blanched – with their sounds removed – nuts yields a satiny, ultra smooth and luxurious nut butter. You can remove the skins by yourself or buy whole blanched nuts or even slivered nuts, which are already clean and ready for grinding. Don’t skip this step: skins have a bitterness that can’t be ground away.
Toasting the Nuts
Although you can purchase almonds, cashews and peanuts roasted and salted, it’s better to stick to raw, unsalted nuts for this so you can control the amount of salt and the amount of roasting. Some nuts, like almonds, are easily available blanched, which is perfect. A pro tip is lightly roasting toasting with the nuts and making the nut butter while the nuts are still warm. This makes it so that even more natural oils and flavors are released.
Nut butter nutrition
Nut butters have a similar nutritional profile to their whole food forms, which is good news if you consume a lot of nuts in either form. Nuts are great sources of plant based protein, and also high in healthy fats – which is not only great for your overall health but also makes them taste incredibly buttery and creamy. These would be poly and monounsaturated fats, that can help reduce bad cholesterol levels in your blood while increasing HDL cholesterol—the good kind. Furthermore, they provide nutrients to help develop and maintain your body’s cells. Another big health benefit, most nuts also contain a good amount of fiber and essential minerals like magnesium and manganese.
Sam Henselijn Author’s Biography – Meet L’Orenta Nuts CEO
Copyright 2024 L’Orenta Nuts
L’Orenta Nuts proudly holds the SQF food safety certification, symbolizing our unwavering dedication to upholding the highest standards of food safety and quality. This certification guarantees that our products undergo rigorous scrutiny, ensuring transparency, traceability, and adherence to global food safety regulations for the utmost consumer confidence.
L’Orenta Nuts has the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) certification is a systematic approach to identifying, evaluating, and controlling food safety hazards. It ensures that food products are produced and handled in a manner that minimizes risks and complies with safety standards.
Our GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification ensures that a manufacturing facility adheres to comprehensive quality and safety standards while producing pharmaceuticals, food, and other consumer goods, promoting consistency, quality, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
L’Orenta is an FDA-approved manufacturing facility and has met the rigorous standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It demonstrates compliance with regulations, ensuring the production of safe and high-quality food products.
