Our family burn through nut butters like most people consume milk. I have a theory that vegetarians are extra fond of nut butters because we need the extra fat and protein that some vegetables lack. Leave a comment if you are also a nut butter loving vegetarian so I can see if my theory makes sense :)
In our home we usually buy peanut butters because they are cheap and there are many brands with clean ingredient labels. We sometimes buy almond, hazelnut or cashew butter and other times we make these ourselves. It's a pretty straightforward process, all you need is a strong food processor and some roasted nuts. The fat in the nuts is released when it is mixed and turns into nut butter. We usually add in sunflower or pumpkin seeds to our nut butters because they are less costly than nuts and it's a great little trick to make more affordable nut butters (we made a very lengthy blog post about it here).
What we don't do very often is making pure seed butters as they often turn out a little thickish and compact. But a while back we visited a cafe that had a jar of pumpkin seed butter on the counter and it was everything we love about nut butters – rich, flavorful, creamy, loose and runny – but this one was entirely nut free. It dawned on us that most of our seed butter attempts had been made with sunflower seeds so once we got home we almost immediately made a batch of pure pumpkin seed butter. It turned out really well but still slightly too thick, so we made another batch. This time we added a little coconut oil and some cardamom for a flavor boost and it turned perfectly. Super runny and with a great flavor. You could easily play more with the spices and add cinnamon, ginger and possibly some ground clove for a pumpkin spice flavor. You could also sweeten it (although it's not necessary as the pumpkin seeds provide a mild sweetness). If you do, we recommend using sugar or coconut sugar rather than any syrup, as liquid sweeteners react with the oil in the nut butter and make it firmer.
This pumpkin seed butter is extremely good for dunking apple slices, celery and carrot sticks in, but we also drizzle it over sandwiches, yoghurt, porridge bowls, mix into energy bars and desserts.
We created the short video below to show you the process. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
In our home we usually buy peanut butters because they are cheap and there are many brands with clean ingredient labels. We sometimes buy almond, hazelnut or cashew butter and other times we make these ourselves. It's a pretty straightforward process, all you need is a strong food processor and some roasted nuts. The fat in the nuts is released when it is mixed and turns into nut butter. We usually add in sunflower or pumpkin seeds to our nut butters because they are less costly than nuts and it's a great little trick to make more affordable nut butters (we made a very lengthy blog post about it here).
What we don't do very often is making pure seed butters as they often turn out a little thickish and compact. But a while back we visited a cafe that had a jar of pumpkin seed butter on the counter and it was everything we love about nut butters – rich, flavorful, creamy, loose and runny – but this one was entirely nut free. It dawned on us that most of our seed butter attempts had been made with sunflower seeds so once we got home we almost immediately made a batch of pure pumpkin seed butter. It turned out really well but still slightly too thick, so we made another batch. This time we added a little coconut oil and some cardamom for a flavor boost and it turned perfectly. Super runny and with a great flavor. You could easily play more with the spices and add cinnamon, ginger and possibly some ground clove for a pumpkin spice flavor. You could also sweeten it (although it's not necessary as the pumpkin seeds provide a mild sweetness). If you do, we recommend using sugar or coconut sugar rather than any syrup, as liquid sweeteners react with the oil in the nut butter and make it firmer.
This pumpkin seed butter is extremely good for dunking apple slices, celery and carrot sticks in, but we also drizzle it over sandwiches, yoghurt, porridge bowls, mix into energy bars and desserts.
We created the short video below to show you the process. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
Comment