Homemade Nut and Seed Butters (Peanut, Hazelnut, Pecan, Cashew, Almond, Sunflower) (V, GF)
These homemade nut and seed butters are incredibly creamy, have a delicious earthy taste and are made with just one ingredient. Discover the perfect roasting time for every nut and make an amazing nut butter every time.
Ingredients
Rich roast or normal roast peanut butter:
- 300 g (2 cups) raw unsalted peanuts
Roasted hazelnut butter:
- 260 g (2 cups) raw unsalted hazelnuts
Roasted pecan butter:
- 204 g (2 cups) raw unsalted pecans
Roasted cashew butter:
- 280 g (2 cups) raw unsalted cashews
Roasted almond butter:
- 286 g (2 cups) raw unsalted almonds
Roasted sunflower seed butter:
- 296 g (2 cups) raw unsalted shelled sunflower seeds
Instructions
Roasting peanuts:
- Arrange 2 cups of peanuts on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and if making rich roast peanut butter, roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 13 min - 14 min 30s. They're done when light brown colour appears through the cracked skin of nuts. Leave them to completely then rub their skin off with your fingers.
- For the normal roasted peanut butter leave peanuts to roast at 180 °C on the middle rack for 11 min 30s -13 min. They're done when light golden colour appears through the cracked skin of nuts. To make sure to not under roast them follow the smell that's coming from nuts. You don't want to take them out while you can still smell raw nuts from the oven, since the taste of raw nuts will be evident in the peanut butter. Leave them to cool completely then rub their skin off with your fingers.
- If you are making crunchy peanut butter roast additional 75g (1/2 cup) of peanuts separately at 180 °C for 10 min, if making normal roasted peanut butter, or 11 min, if you are making rich roast peanut butter (since you are working with smaller batch here, the roasting time will be different to get the same result). Leave them to cool completely then rub their skin off with your fingers. Put them on a chopping board and crush them with a back of a fork into small pieces. Then just simply mix crushed nuts into peanut butter.
Roasting hazelnuts:
- If making hazelnut butter, arrange 2 cups of hazelnuts on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 10 min. They're done when a gently golden colour appears through the cracked skin of nuts but there's not yet a vivid brown colour. Leave them to cool completely then rub their skin off with your fingers.
Roasting pecans:
- If making pecan butter, arrange 2 cups of pecan halves on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 5 min. Leave them to cool completely before proceeding.
Roasting cashews:
- If making cashew butter, arrange 2 cups of cashews on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 8-9 min. They're done when they start becoming golden in spots but are not already completely golden. Leave them to cool completely before proceeding.
Roasting almonds:
- If making almond butter, arrange 2 cups of almonds on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 11 min. Leave them to cool completely before proceeding.
Roasting sunflower seeds:
- If making sunflower seed butter, arrange 148g (1 cup) of sunflower seeds on a baking tray so that they don't overlap and roast them on the middle rack at 180 °C for 8 min. They're done when they start becoming gently golden. Leave them to cool completely then transfer them into a blender. Repeat the roasting process with the second cup of sunflower seeds (since they take up more space than nuts only 1 cup can be roasted at a time).
Making nut/seed butters:
- Put your chosen nuts (or seeds) in a blender and start mixing. I put blender on low to medium speed and leave it there until the nuts start releasing their natural oils and transforming into nut butter. That can take a few minutes and sometimes you will need to turn off the blender and stir the mixture a little bit with a spoon if it stops mixing on its own. But most of the time all you need is to wait and the nuts will start releasing their natural oils which will make the mixture start moving around and transforming into nut butter. After you see the nut butter appearing leave it to mix for a little longer so that the nut butter gets really smooth and there's no nut chunks left in the nut butter. At the final stage I like to put blender on high so that the nut butter gets super smooth. How much time the whole process will take depends on the type of nut. I noticed that cashews and almonds need the most patience and more time than other nuts before you start to see smooth nut butter in a blender.
- After your nut/seed butter is made, transfer it to a container and seal it so that it can stay fresh as long as possible. Store it in the fridge. Some nut butters will become harder in the fridge (cashew butter for example) but if you take them out of the fridge and leave them on the counter for half an hour or so, they will become silky smooth again.
Notes
*I tested roasting time for nuts and seeds in the quantities stated. If you want to make a bigger batch of nut butter have in mind that the roasting time will be longer if putting a bigger quantity (3 cups or 4 cups) of nuts on the roasting tray at once. I would suggest to roast them in two separate batches of 2 cups in this case. Sunflower seeds as already stated above are best roasted 1 cup at a time.
*Have in mind that nuts and seeds can be quite easily too roasted and that they continue to roast a little bit after taking them out of the oven which means that their colour will also get darker. This can help you with assessing if the nuts are ready to take out or if they need a little bit more time. Don't rely solely on the colour of nuts though to assess the roasting time. It can happen that nuts don't look like much roasted when in the oven but become very brown after taking them out of the oven (I had this happen once with cashews). Be mindful that ovens can be very different and that roasting time of your oven may not be equal to mine. If you have a lot of broken pieces of nuts on your roasting tray instead of whole nuts (or whole halves in case of pecans) they can also get burned easier. I would suggest to use mostly whole nuts when roasting them to make nut butter. Roasting time can also depend on the type of nut you are using as the same nut can be a different size through different types. When roasting nuts to make a nut butter I usually follow the rule that less is more (with the exception of rich roast peanut butter) since the burned taste in nut butter can be quite easily evident.
*Choose fresh nuts for making nut butter not the ones that have been in your cupboard for a long time.
*If your nuts don't want to transform into nut butter, there are probably two possible reasons for this: 1) your batch of nuts is not big enough to cover the blades of your blender properly or 2) you don't have a blender on proper speed. When waiting for nut butter to appear I stick to low to medium speed, sometimes more closer to medium speed (4-5 speed on Vitamix). If your batch of nuts doesn't want to start mixing on its own, push the nuts down with a stick. If there's only a dough in your blender that's swirling around and no nut butter is appearing, wait and blend longer that you usually do. You can pause the blending in that time once or twice to give your blender (and yourself) a break. Eventually the nut butter will appear. I found cashews to be the hardest nut to crack when it comes to transforming nuts into nut butter, following by almonds.
*Nut/seed butters will be quite hot immediately after making them in a blender. Put them in the fridge to cool down as the taste will also be better after they're cooled.
*I tested making nut/seed butters using Vitamix.
*When it comes to rubbing the skin off of roasted peanuts and hazelnuts, I find it to be more efficient to rub individual nut with your fingers instead of rubbing a large quantity of nuts with your whole hands. This is because I can put the skin that comes off the nuts in one pile separate from the nuts when doing it individually instead of having to look for nuts in the pile of the skin that has been removed from majority of nuts all at once.
*From 300g (2 cups) of peanuts you will get about 260g (heaped 14 tbsp) of peanut butter. From 260g (2 cups) of hazelnuts you will get about 230g (scant 13 tbsp) of hazelnut butter. From 204g (2 cups) of pecans you will get about 184g (heaped 10 tbsp) of pecan butter. From 280g (2 cups) of cashews you will get about 256g (heaped 14 tbsp) of cashew butter. From 286g (2 cups) of almonds you will get about 258g (heaped 14 tbsp) of almond butter. From 296g (2 cups) of sunflower seeds you will get about 252g (14 tbsp) of sunflower seed butter.
*Prep time and nutrition facts calculated for hazelnut butter.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 servingCalories: 120kcalCarbohydrates: 2gProtein: 1gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 1gFiber: 1g
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