HOMEMADE CASHEW BUTTER

 CASHEW BUTTER

(AKA liquid gold).

Now for those of you with a food processor, you’re probably like “Duh, Ashley, homemade nut butter is the easiest thing ever.” But even though I’ve had my food processor since June, I finally just bought enough nuts to give it a go myself. AND, I was actually still semi-skeptical. Don’t ask me why. I guess I am the type of person that likes to figure things out on their own first. 

It’s funny though… during the entire process the second time (while shooting these pictures) I was STILL skeptical. Talking to the cashews, not trusting they were going to make it into butter. It does take a bit of time, but they eventually process themselves into a delicious, creamy (addicting) nut butter.

So to help ease your mind while you embark on this adventure that is cashew butter making, I took a few step-by-step photos. JUST TRUST IN YOUR FOOD PROCESSOR and its BA power, and all will be well.

I started with raw organic cashews and lightly toasted them myself. I found a pretty good deal on Amazon. Of course you can buy pre-roasted cashews to skip the oven step, but I didn’t want the added oils because it most likely would have been canola oil, which I am not really a fan of these days. Anyways, so you spread the cashews on a baking pan evenly and toast them at 325F for about 15 minutes, or until just lightly golden. I suggest watching after 10 minutes just to be sure they don’t get too dark.

Let the cashews cool a little on the pan, for about 10 minutes. Then add to the bowl of your food processor and start grinding away.

So this picture above ^^ is after 2-3 minutes of grinding. It doesn’t look like much, but don’t worry, just keep going.

And here ^^ is after about 7 minutes or so. This is where you may have to scrape down the sides of the bowl every few minutes, depending on the size of your food processor. (I have a 12 cup, and used 4 cups of cashews.)

See NOW we’re getting somewhere! Of course here I was again about 10 minutes in, getting semi-skeptical. Thinking “Okay, is this really going to work? When will it finally turn into butter? What the heck are you doing cashews?! Is this how long it took last time…”

And then like magic this smooth goodness happened out of nowhere. YUHUMMMM. Ugh I can’t even. SO GOOD.

I like to add just a couple teaspoons of coconut oil here and process for another 4-5 minutes to get it really creamy. The creamier, the better. You might as well use it for frosting at this point, because seriously that is what it tastes like.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups raw cashews
2 tsp extra virgin coconut oil

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 325F and place raw cashews on a medium-sized baking sheet.
• Spread evenly in one layer and toast for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.
• Let cashews cool on pan for 10 minutes.
• Place slightly cooled cashews in bowl of food processor and cover with lid.
• Process for about 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically if necessary.
• Once your cashews have turned into a slightly creamy consistency, with the motor running, add 2 tsp of coconut oil and process the cashew butter for another 5 minutes, or until desired consistency.
• Transfer cashew butter into jar with lid and store in fridge.