~
~
Last night I had a hankering for some crackers with peanut butter. Alas, we were all out of peanut butter. So ... what to do ...
Well, we did have a can of Spanish peanuts ... I wondered if I could make some peanut butter myself.
I sat down and googled "home made peanut butter." That search yielded a gazillion hits of course. I looked at the top dozen or so; the one thing that all had in common was that you need a powerful blender. We have a 1960s Oster Galaxie blender with a Pro Blender 6-Point Blade. I thought that ought to do the trick.
One recipe suggested lightly toasting the peanuts first. The warmth will help release the oils and make the butter smoother, and will also make a more robust flavor.
So I dumped the can of Spanish peanuts onto a small baking tray and warmed them up in the toaster oven. Then I poured them into the blender and let it go on full power.
After the nuts were pulverized -- about two minutes -- I drizzed in about two teaspoons of peanut oil and about a half-teaspoon of coconut palm sugar.
I let it go another 3-4 minutes, then poured it into a small Mason jar. Per all the recipes on Google, I let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours because it was warm and runny.
Well I Decliah! The peanut butter is delicious and creamy smooth. I was afraid the skins might make it bitter or tough but that's not the case at all.
For the next batch, I'm going to a bag of deluxe mixed nuts -- brazil nuts, cashews, almonds, pecans and hazelnuts (with the hazelnuts removed because I don't like 'em).