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June 11, 2012

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
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



11 comments:

  1. can't wait for homemade nutella! :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love option no. 2, because grated chocolate always makes it looks like there is loads when really its only one tiny square! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. can i ask what mini food processor you bought? i only have a magic bullet and it says to not process longer than a minute as well but i never thought eventually you could make a nut butter with it! even if it does take 20 minutes i've been wanting to make nut butters for awhile!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had a Magic Bullet too! But I don't think they can handle nuts, plus, mine died :( I got a Cuisinart 4-cup food processor here:
      http://www.crateandbarrel.com/kitchen-and-food/food-processors/cuisinart-stainless-steel-mini-prep-plus/s180435

      Homemade nut butter is definitely worth the time!

      Delete
  4. All your recipes are so awesome!! Looking forward to trying them out :) Btw how much butter should I use for this recipe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Calista! Sorry if I'm misunderstanding your question but the recipe doesn't call for any butter.

      Delete
    2. Thank you Jessica for clarifying that with me :)

      Delete
  5. Did you include the skins? ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, I used the whole hazelnut! I'm sure you can remove the skins, I just kept them because they contain antioxidants and some other health benefits :)

      Delete
  6. Hi, I just discovered your blog and I think I'm in love! Haha, quick question: Have you ever tried soaking your nuts before grinding them into butters to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors? Does it work? Thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The only nut I've tried soaking is almond, but once you soak them you won't have an easy time blending them... you would need to make a puree with other ingredients (similar to raw cashew cheesecake fillings).
      But for this recipe, you don't need to soak the nuts because hazelnuts do not contain enzyme inhibitors :)

      Delete

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