Homemade Peanut Butter

Once you see how easy it is start having some fun. Play around and tweak your peanut butter with some spices and/or oil combinations. One of family’s favorite homemade brews I created is cayenne and bacon flavored peanut butter. We use it in combination with other ingredients to create a sauce for grilling and braising short ribs.

Of course I am attesting to the taste and texture via my family, as I’m allergic to peanuts. Luckily, my allergy is limited to ingesting it, whereby, my tongue starts to swell up like a puffer fish. Lovely, huh?

All kidding aside, I’m so glad I am able to work with it, unlike other people I know whose peanut allergy is so severe they can’t even touch it.

But before your interest starts to wane, let’s get rock’n . . .

There are two ways to go about making your own basic homemade peanut butter. You can either (1) throw a handful of peanuts into your food processor, hit the button or (2) you can add a little peanut oil and honey to the mix to create a creamier texture.

I chose the latter since it will serve as a building block for some baking recipes to come. I also made a tweaked batch as I mentioned above by adding some cayenne and bacon drippings into the creamy texture option.

A few notes:
1. You can roast your own peanuts or buy readymade roasted peanuts.
2. If you buy roasted peanuts that are salted, then omit the kosher salt portion of the recipe.
3. I store my homemade peanut butter in baby food jars, as it is much easier to heat up to spreading consistency when I need it. To reheat, place jar in a sauce pot over low heat with the water level half way up.

Your palate your preference:
1. Get creative and try some smoked or unusual spiced peanuts to create a peanut butter paste for cooking, grilling and marinating.
2. If you do decide to get creative and make seasoned peanut butter, follow the roasting instructions and toss the peanuts in your seasoning after they have been shelled and skinned and then process.
3. One of my peanut butter variations involves a teaspoon of bacon drippings.

Homemade Peanut Butter*
{Printer Version}

Ingredients:

Peanut Butter:

15 ounces roasted peanuts (bought or self roasted)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoon honey
1 ½ tablespoon peanut oil
*add ¼ teaspoon bacon grease and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (for Cayenne& Bacon Peanut Butter) *

Roasting Raw Peanuts:
2 lbs of raw in-shell peanuts
2 tablespoons of peanut oil
1-2 tablespoons of kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Peanut Butter:

1. Add peanuts, salt and honey into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
2. Process for 1 minute and then scrape down sides of bowl.
3. Continue to process while slowly pouring oil through the feed tube.
4. Process until mixture is smooth.
5. Store peanut butter in the refrigerator for up to two months.

Roasting Raw Peanuts:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. To remove any dirt, rinse peanuts under cold water.
3. Pat dry and toss with peanut oil and salt.
4. Spread peanuts into a thin layer over two half sheet pans.
5. Roast for 30-35 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.
6. Allow peanuts to cool before shelling.
7. To remove the skin, place a kitchen towel on the counter with nuts on top.  Fold the towel over and vigorously rub the towel against nuts to separate the skin from the peanuts.