Great Homemade Peanut Butter – crunchy & smooth.

Too easy, one ingredient, peanut butter!

All you need for a great peanut butter is peanuts. It sounds obvious, right? But it’s far from the case when you consider all the add-ins that are in supermarket brands such as vegetable oil, stabilisers, preservatives AND SUGAR. These extras are simply not necessary for a great taste, texture or a decent shelf life.

So why not go pure? Become the nut butter boss! When you make it from scratch, you’re in control. With the Vibe Blender System, making peanut butter is a crazy simple process. You’ll be amazed with how fast whole peanuts are reduced to creamy, spreadable nut butter and no additional oil is required! Once you have glossy peanut butter in the jug, you can get all artisan and customise it with subtle add-ins that switch up the flavour and texture. Make it once and you’ll discover homemade peanut butter tastes so good, that returning to sweet store-bought varieties isn’t an option. We particularly love adding in a hint of ground cinnamon. Try it for yourself. 

HEATING THE NUTS

The taste of peanuts are improved immeasurably by roasting. Heating draws out the oil and makes the nut more aromatic and tastier. You can buy pre-roasted peanuts which makes the process super easy, or you can use raw nuts (organic is best) and roast them yourself. The extra step produces a deeper flavour and a darker nut butter. We sampled both ways. The jar on the right (our ‘smooth’ peanut butter) uses organic, raw peanuts that we roasted in the oven for 10 minutes before blending. Our ‘crunchy’ peanut butter, with a twist of cinnamon on the right, was made with store-bought, unsalted, roasted peanuts and is much lighter in colour. Both jars are delicious but are considerably different in taste. There is no right or wrong way - the choice is yours.

ADD INS

Depending on your preferences, you can add in some good quality salt, a dash of cinnamon (is awesome) or healthy sweetener. Dry powdered sweeteners produce the best results. Add 1-2 teaspoons of coconut sugar. Note: Liquid sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup will cause the peanut butter to seize up and dry out immediately in the blender (trust me – the Luvele Kitchen learned this by experience). For a sweetenedSCD version add honey with coconut oil. 

TEXTURE

Creating crunchy peanut butter is very easy. Simply blend some roasted peanuts first and set aside to fold into your freshly made peanut butter just before pouring into a jar.

WATCH HOW SIMPLY IT'S MADE HERE

INGREDIENTS

3 cups organic raw or unsalted roasted peanuts

Optional add-ins
¼  - ½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1-2 teaspoons of coconut sugar
1-2 teaspoons of honey (SCD) or maple syrup - note: oil will be required

METHOD

If roasting your own nuts…

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. 
2. Spread the raw peanuts on a baking tray and dry roast for approx. 10 minutes. The nuts should take on a light golden colour and smell nutty. Roast for more time if they are too pale but be careful not to burn them. They will not require more than 15 minutes.
3. Remove the nuts from the oven and let cool until they’re just warm to touch (about 15 minutes). It doesn’t matter if the nuts go cold – they will warm up in the blender.

For crunchy peanut butter…

4. For crunchy peanut butter, add 1/3 cup of roasted peanuts to a dry blender jug and pulse a few times to reduce the nuts to coarse crumb. Don’t over blend, or else you will have nut flour.
5. Turn the crushed nuts out into a bowl and set aside. Follow method for smooth peanut butter and fold in the crushed nuts with a spatula at the end.

For smooth peanut butter…

6. Transfer the roasted peanuts to the Vibe Blender jug. Place the lid on. Remove the cap and insert the tamper into the lid.
7. Select ‘nut’ mode. As soon as you press start the nuts will quickly break down and become a thick paste. Use the tamper to help push the nuts down into the blades. Continue to blend for 1 minute.
8. Stop, open the lid. Scrape down the sides, inside the lid and down under the blades.
9. Add the optional salt and cinnamon, coconut sugar or honey/maple plus oil.
10. Replace the lid. Continue to blend for another minute, moving the tamper in a circular motion now. The peanuts will release oil, turn glossy and blend without the assistance of the tamper. Continue blending until the peanut butter has reached your desired creaminess. We found about 2 ½ minutes to be enough.
11. Pour the peanut butter into a clean glass jar and add your crushed nuts (for crunchy style).
12. Let cool to room temperature before screwing on the lid.
13. To get the best shelf life, store in a dark, cool place or in the fridge and consume within 3 – 4 weeks. 

For more homemade nut butters click over to our almond butter and better than Nutella, chocolate and nut spread. 

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