Raw Hazelnut Butter

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I caved.

I bought a mini food processor!

Hey now, it wasn't that expensive and it's adorable little size made me love it even more.  Plus, I'll be saving loads of money by making my own nut butters at home!

Giant, cheap bag of nuts + a few minutes = healthy, low cost and (kind of) easy nut butter!

     Win.

I probably should've started off slow with the new kitchen gadget, but no, I went all in and had to make nut butter for its first use.  The only thing I don't like about the food processor is that the longest recommended processing time is one minute... so this nut butter took me a little longer than it would a normal person with a normal sized food processor.  I don't regret the buy though.  I like mini.  And I liked the low price  :)

The end result was well worth the extra time!  This nut butter is incredibly aromatic, despite being raw rather than roasted.  It looks chunky in the pictures but it spreads remarkably well, especially on a warm slice of toast!

Raw Hazelnut Butter:
(makes 1 cup + 2 tbs)
  2 cups Raw Hazelnuts

Directions:
1.  Add the hazelnuts to a food processor and pulse about 20-30 times until you get hazelnut crumbs.  Process again for a minute straight until you get hazelnut meal.
2.  Scrape down the sides of the food processor and process again (follow your processor's instructions, I had to stop every 60 seconds.  It took me about 20 minutes total of constant processing, scraping, processing, etc...).
3.  When nut butter is smooth and buttery give it a taste (add salt and/or stevia to taste).  Let cool a bit and scoop into a pretty jar with a sealable lid.  Store covered in the refrigerator.

Feel free to add 1-2 tsp of oil (preferably a nut oil like hazelnut oil, walnut oil or almond oil, but canola works fine too) to make the processing go faster, you'll just get a slightly runny nut butter.  You can also roast the hazelnuts you use.  I just used raw nuts because they retain their natural vitamins which can be destroyed in the roasting process.

So how can you use this hazelnut butter?

1.  Spread it on a warm slice of toast with a drizzle with agave or pure maple syrup

2.  Spread it on a warm slice of toast and top with grated chocolate  (better option than #1 right??)

3.  Top your morning oatmeal with it

4.  Use it in Chocolatey "Nutella" Overnight Dessert Oats

5.  On your finger a spoon

6.  Hmmm, actually yeah, on your finger

7.  Spread it on these yummy Chocolate Banana Muffins  (best when warm!)

8.  Spread it on these moist Raisin Bran Muffins

9.  In any recipe using nut butter

10.  In my Homemade Nutella recipe!