Homemade Peanut Butter

Many years ago, my dad brought home a suspicious looking jar from office. On it was written peanut butter. I must have been about 12years old and that tin of peanut butter seemed quite interesting for I had never heard of such a thing as peanut butter. None of us at home knew what to do with it and so, it found its way into our refrigerator door. For a couple of weeks it was almost forgotten. When I was shelled bored one day, I took a spoonful of this peanut butter and loved it instantly. I have already talked about how my family detested breads of any sort and so, this peanut butter became my snack rather than a spread. Soon after it got over, everyone forgot about it except me. Years later, after moving to Bangalore I found peanut butter again but I was not much interested in finishing a full jar by myself. With husband around, we did buy it once and that’s it.

My issues with buying peanut butter from a store – comes in a big jar and often, we forget it after using it a few times. And then, the sugar content along with the added preservatives. While I enjoy an occasional peanut butter jam sandwich, I can’t buy a jar of it that’s costly.  I had been meaning to try making it at home and recently made an attempt. It was a super duper hit and I swear we are never going to buy another jar of peanut butter from the store. I dry roasted the peanuts in microwave and it took me only 10mins to whip out this peanut butter. Also, I used honey instead of sugar and a teaspoon of oil which is optional. I did not remove the skin of the peanuts and loved the deep brown color. It stayed good for a week in the refrigerator and I can make fresh batches whenever required. Doesn’t all of this make this peanut butter super awesome?! 🙂

To make Peanut Butter

Makes - More than ½ cup for a cup of peanuts

Time to prepare – 10mins (for making this in microwave)

What I used –

• Raw Peanuts, 1 cup
• Honey, 2 tbsp
• Salt, a large generous pinch
• Oil, 1 teaspoon (optional)

How I made –

• In a microwave safe bowl, add the cup of peanuts and microwave for about 3 mins. Pause every minute and toss the peanuts so that they don’t char. The peanuts should be roasted well.
• While the roasted peanuts are still hot, add them to a mixer jar. Hold the lid of the jar with the cloth and blend continuously for 40-50secs. The peanuts can be quite hot out of the microwave and the cloth helps protect your hand.
• Open the lid of the jar, scrape the sides of the jar and blend again continuously for a minute. At this stage, the peanuts should be powdered well and appear crumbly.
• Again, scrape the sides of the jar and repeat blending for another minute continuously. You should see that the natural oils should be released and peanut butter taking shape.
• While scraping the sides of the jar this time, add honey, oil and salt. Blend for one last time until really smooth and buttery in texture.
• Let it cool and remove it onto a bowl. If it’s too thick, extra honey or oil can be added but usually not required.
• Serve it along with jam for bread or as a dip.

Note –

• If you cannot microwave the peanuts, dry roast them in a pan until they are browned and roasted well. This usually takes some time and patience.
• It is essential to start grinding the peanuts while they are still hot.
• Do not add water while grinding the peanuts.
• Sweetness from the honey would be more than sufficient but one can add sugar if desired.
• Adjust salt quantities as per preference.
• Oil can be avoided altogether but the peanut butter can get sticky.