How to Make Peanut Butter

First off I have a confession: I’ve never been a fan of peanut butter unless it was an ingredient in cookies or bars. There, I’ve said it and the world hasn’t come to an end. So why would I make peanut butter?

That’s easy – I’m a big fan of Teacher, and Teacher is a big fan of peanut butter. Teacher is such a big fan of peanut butter that he used to joke that I was third in line behind peanut butter and hockey. At least I think he was joking.

But I digress…

Another reason I make peanut butter is because I like doing nice things for my family besides washing their underwear and scrubbing toothpaste out of the sink.

Besides liking Teacher and wanting to do something nice for my family, other reasons to make peanut butter are:

• Making peanut butter is easy-peasy. When I’m in the kitchen I’m all about easy.
• Homemade peanut butter has no trans fats so it’s healthier
• It can be cheaper to make peanut butter, especially if you’re already buying a natural kind.
• Even young kids can help – cheap family entertainment with a built-in snack!
• Best of all, it tastes waaaaay better than store-bought peanut butter! It’s so good I’ve become a peanut butter addict – I eat it right off a spoon, or a finger if there’s no clean spoons around, which happens embarrassingly often around here.

OK, enough chit-chat, let’s get to business with Z-Man and make some healthy best-you’ve-ever-eaten-in-your-whole-lifetime peanut butter! (drum roll please)

How to Make Peanut Butter – With Pictures

First, roast your peanuts in the oven for about 15 minutes. They’ll continue to cook a bit after you take them out so don’t let them get too dark.

Be sure to use Spanish peanuts, not Virginia peanuts. I tried Virginia peanuts the first time and ended up with ground peanuts instead of peanut butter. It probably didn’t help the texture that I was using a wooden chopstick to poke the ground peanut mountains down in a futile effort to make them turn into butter. When the chopstick hit the blade and lost an inch I knew that batch was doomed.

They smell amazing – my mouth is starting to water already!

Let the peanuts cool, then grab a handful of peanuts and rub them between your palms over a salad spinner. Let any loose skins fall into the spinner with the nuts. Don’t worry if you miss some of the peanuts; you can rub them again later or just leave the skins on. You don’t even have to remove the skins if you don’t want to; they’ll add another flavor.

I learned this trick from Alton Brown. He’s my hero… or he would be if I cooked regularly. I like to watch him on TV, does that count?

Give the peanuts a whirl in the salad spinner to pull the loose skins away. I usually empty the bowl a couple of times so there’s not a big build-up of skins in there. Now’s the time to loosen any peanut skins that you missed the first time around.

Z-Man was fascinated with the peanut skins. “They look like Fall!” he said. He was also very concerned about what we would do with the skins. I guess he took our recycling and talk about not wasting things to heart. He thought up different ways to use the skins for the longest time. “We could glue them on trees for Fall leaves.” he suggested. “We could put them in the macaroni and cheese table.” He means the sensory table which currently is filled with dry macaroni – no cheese. “We could throw them in the air and catch them.” There were a ton more ideas I don’t remember. I’m probably a bad mom for forgetting.

What actually happened is that I distracted him and threw them in the sink when he wasn’t looking. I’m definitely a bad mom.

When your peanuts are all de-skinned make sure the blade is in the food processor – it doesn’t work otherwise – and put the peanuts in. Add the honey and salt.

You can adjust the amount of honey and salt to suit your taste. Teacher likes his with without honey, I like mine really sweet so I make my peanut butter with honey-roasted peanuts.

Put on the lid and process for about a minute, then scrape down the sides.

Be careful not to nick your finger or spatula with the blades; my spatulas all carry the scars of careless scraping. I’m slightly more careful with my fingers.

Start the processor again and slowly drizzle in the oil. Keep processing until it’s smooth enough for you.

Some of the recipes I researched said to process “another 2-3 minutes” but it took my processor longer than that to make our peanut butter smooth enough.

By now the smell is probably driving you crazy so go ahead and take a taste. You can add more honey or salt and process longer if you want.

Doesn’t it look delish? Quick – gimme a spoon!

Ack! Z-man stole my spoon! He sure loves it though.

Another reason to make peanut butter: kids think everything tastes better when they help make it. It’s a proven fact.

Store your peanut butter in a jar in the refrigerator. I’ve read that it will keep for up to two months, but with so many peanut butter eatin’ kids around here ours lasts about a week.

Enjoy!

How to Make Peanut Butter – the Official Recipe

1 15 oz bag raw Spanish peanuts
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp honey (or more to taste)
1-1 1/2 Tbsp peanut oil

Spread the peanuts on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Rub peanuts between your palms over a salad spinner to loosen the skins. Spin the salad spinner to separate the skins from the peanuts. Put the peanuts into the bowl of a food processor. Add the salt and honey, put on the lid, then process for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and replace the lid. Process again, while drizzling in the oil. Continue processing until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the peanut butter to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

How to Make Amy Sue’s Honey Roasted Peanut Butter

(aka “The easiest-peasiest yummiest peanut butter recipe ever”)

12 oz honey-roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp peanut oil
Put peanuts in food processor. Process 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl. Process again, drizzling in the oil. Keep processing until it’s smooth. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Done.

By the way, were you observant enough to notice that the food processor bowl already had peanut butter all over it the first time you saw it? That’s because we’d already made a batch of honey-roasted peanut butter. YUM!!

Happy peanut butter making!