CINNAMON VANILLA SUNFLOWER BUTTER
FROM MY EARLIEST DAYS AS AN EATER, I’VE BEEN a peanut butter lover. From kindergarten through third grade, I ate half a peanut butter-and-honey sandwich on whole wheat for lunch. My mother believed in the nutritional aspects of peanut butter and always spread a thick, protein-packed layer on every sandwich.
Despite the fact that peanut butter has always been a regular player in my diet, it took me until my thirties to realize that there was a world of nut butters beyond my beloved peanut. What’s more, nearly all of them could be made at home in my sturdy, hand-me-down food processor.
In making batch after batch of nut butters, I’ve learned that the tastiest nut butters come from freshly roasted nuts, so all these recipes start with raw nuts and include a roasting step. It’s best to make nut butters in fairly small batches, as the flavors are at their best within the first week. The yields on these recipes top out at 1½ cups/ (380 g) of butter. If you have a larger capacity food processor, you can double the recipes, but I strongly encourage you to make only as much butter as you and your family can eat in a week or two.
As you process the nuts, they will pass through several stages. First, they’ll resemble chopped nuts. Then they’ll transition to a cornmeal-like state. Last, just before they achieve butter consistency, the contents of the food processor will resemble a really dry paste. You might begin to despair that you’ll never achieve a proper butter consistency. Fear not. Keep processing.
At times, the nascent butter will form a ball in the bowl of the food processor. Just stop the motor, use a wooden spatula (food processors are really hard on plastic and silicone implements) to break up the clusters and continue with the processing. If you’re really struggling to achieve the right consistency, just add another drizzle of oil and keep on chugging.
Soon enough, you too will find yourself breezing past the expensive jars of exotic spreadable nut products in the grocery store, smug in the knowledge that the ones you make yourself are so much better a butter.