1 ½poundsunshelled raw peanuts or 1 pound shelled raw peanuts
1 to 2tablespoonshoney
Kosher saltto taste
Instructions
How To Oven-Roast The Peanuts: If using shelled roasted peanuts skip steps 1-7 and go straight to Making Peanut Butter.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Pour the peanuts onto a shallow baking pan in a single layer.
Place the pan inside the preheated oven and roast the peanuts. Stir the peanuts once or twice during the roasting time.
Roast the peanuts until slightly underdone. Take into consideration that the peanuts will continue to cook from the carryover heat when removed from the oven.
For unshelled peanuts, bake for 20 to 25 minutes. For shelled peanuts, bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Cool the peanuts completely. Peanuts can hold in heat for a while, so be careful when trying to shell them!When the peanuts have cooled, if using unshelled peanuts, remove the peanuts from the shell, and remove the skins. Shell and skin the peanuts until you have two cups of roasted peanuts.
Now you are ready to make peanut butter! Make extra for snacking! Keep in mind oven-roasted peanuts are a healthy, convenient snack that provides a great source of protein.
How To Make Peanut Butter:
Dump the peanuts into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment.
Turn on the food processor and let it run for about 4 to 5 minutes.
While the peanuts are processing, they go through different stages. At first, there will be dense crumbs. Then at about one minute of processing time, the peanuts clump into a ball. It may seem like it’s not going to turn into peanut butter, but it will! Just keep the food processor on. At about 3 minutes in, the ball splatters against the sides of the food processor bowl and begins to smooth out. At this point, you have peanut butter. Stop the food processor, scrape down the sides. Place the lid back on and process for another minute or so until the peanut butter is smooth and creamy.
Pour the peanut butter out into a medium bowl. Stir in the honey and season with salt, to taste.
Enjoy your freshly made peanut butter!
Notes
How do you select peanuts for oven-roasting? When using peanuts in the shell, you want to use clean, unbroken peanuts without discoloration and the peanuts should not rattle inside of the shell when you shake them.What kind of peanuts can I use? Raw dried peanuts that you oven-roast yourself make the best peanut butter and I highly recommend using them. However, they may be hard to find. Instead, you can use roasted peanuts that have no salt or that are lightly salted. Using plain unseasoned nuts allows you to season the peanut butter to your taste. This means you are also in control of the amount of sugar and salt in the peanut butter, which is very helpful if you watch your sodium and sugar intake. Feel free to use salted, unsalted, honey roasted or any flavored peanuts. It’s fine. Make it your own!Can I use other types of nuts? Yes!This method of making peanut butter is the same as other types of nut butter. You can make almond butter, pistachio butter, cashew butter and or any other kind of nut butter you desire!Can I use a blender? I cannot speak from experience, but according to what I have read you can. However, you will need a professional style blender that can handle the job, such as a Blendtec or Vitamix. Can I use the food processor to stir in the honey? Stirring the honey in gives the peanut butter a better texture. There are some recipes that say to mix the honey into the peanut butter while in the food processor. In my experience, this made the peanut butter clump up and become too thick.What about crunchy peanut butter? If you are a crunchy peanut butter fan, you can add in some chopped peanuts after you process the peanut butter or reserve about ¼ to ½ cup of the 2 cups of peanuts needed to make the batch.Can I make larger batches? Yes, but do not add more than 2 cups of peanuts in the food processor at a time. I’m speaking from experience on this. If you add more than two cups of peanuts there is not enough room inside the processor bowl for the peanuts to work their magic. It’s best to process the peanut butter in batches and add together.Do I need to add oil? NO! Peanuts have natural oil, so there is really no reason to add oil to the peanut butter. Yes, many recipes call for oil. I have used everything from store-brand peanuts to fresh. I’ve never had a need to add oil.Will the peanut butter separate? Yes, it can. Sometimes when you open the container you’ll notice oil laying on top of the peanut butter. This is normal but doesn’t happen all the time. Just stir before using it.How can you tell if the peanut butter has gone bad? You’ll smell it. The peanut butter will have a paint-like smell to it. David can tell rancid nuts from far away. He has a keen sense of smell for it. Storing Peanut Butter: Add the peanut butter to a glass jar with a lid or airtight container. Store in a cool dry place for up to two weeks or store in the fridge for long term storage. According to internet research, homemade peanut butter can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 6 months. However, I don’t see how it will ever stay in there that long. You’ll eat it up long before then!When storing in the fridge it is best if you remove the peanut butter at least a half an hour before using it. This will allow it to loosen up.
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