With this cashew butter recipe you'll learn how to make your own homemade nut butter in no time. Cashew butter is a fantastic breakfast spread on toast and a wonderful baking ingredient as well.
To say I am a fan of nut butter seems like an understatement, but for some strange reason I haven't had cashew butter until recently. Some days we live on peanut butter sandwiches around here.
I adore almond butter to an extreme! And if it wasn't loaded with so much sugar, I could have Nutella every day - from a spoon!
Luckily, I don't have to rely on store bought nut butters. I like to make our own peanut, coconut and almond butter at home. I've even experimented with making my own healthier version of Nutella with ground roasted hazelnuts, cocoa powder and maple syrup as a healthier sweetener.
Why I love to make my own nut butters:
- Complete control over ingredients - In my opinion, the best nut butters contain nothing but nuts and just a little sea salt
- It's economical - Buying nuts in bulk is usually much cheaper than jars of all natural nut butters
What is Cashew Butter
Cashew butter is simply ground up cashew nuts. Grinding cashews breaks down their structure and creates heat.
This in turn causes the natural oils in the cashew nuts to release and the result is smooth and creamy cashew nut butter. It's great as a spread in toast as well as a baking ingredient.
How To Roast Cashews
You can make raw cashew butter by simply grinding raw cashew nuts. The results is a very fine and creamy, pale cashew butter.
Personally, I think that the best cashew butter is made from roasted cashews. Interestingly, while I find that roasted almonds break down easier into almond butter, with roasted cashews the resulting cashew butter is a little more gritty than raw cashew butter.
To roast raw cashews place them on a baking sheet and dry toast them in a preheated 325°F oven. Roast them for 5-10 minutes while watching carefully and shake the baking sheet as needed to toss the cashew nuts.
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How to Make Cashew Butter
Making Cashew Butter in a Food Processor
Any food processor should be able to handle cashew nuts into cashew butter. This Cuisinart model is my trusty machine. For half batches (1 cup of whole nuts) you might also be able to use a food chopper.
To make cashew butter in a food processor, add the roasted cashew nuts to the food processor bowl and close the lid. Turn on the food processor and let it break down the nuts. At first they will turn into a coarse nut flour (2 images above).
The grinding process also produces heat that releases the natural oils from the cashews. At this point the nut flours turns into a dense cashew nut paste.
As you keep processing the paste starts to press together and forms a ball.
And just as suddenly as the nut butter ball forms, it breaks down again in a preliminary form of cashew spread. It is still a little too coarse and firm though, so keep on processing.
Until finally the homemade nut butter is completely smooth!
At any time you can stop the food processor and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Depending on your food processor the process takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes in total.
It will be rather noisy in the beginning, but as the cashew nuts break down it will quiet down.
Cashew Butter in a Vitamix
You can also make cashew butter in the Vitamix blender. In that case I recommend using a tamper that can push the nuts moving around and down towards the blades.
Blendtec Nut Butter
When making nut butters with the Blendtec blender I always use the twister jar that is specifically designed for that purpose.
Smooth or Crunchy Cashew Butter Recipe
The process as described above makes smooth and creamy cashew butter. So there is nothing else to do for that.
If you prefer crunchy cashew butter, reserve a few whole cashew nuts and chop them with a knife. Or take out a few tablespoons when the cashews are at the very coarse flour stage (image below the whole cashews in food processor above).
Stir the chopped cashews into the smooth cashew butter and voila! You have crunchy cashew butter now.
How to Store Homemade Cashew Butter
Fill the healthy cashew butter into a glass jar or other storage container with a lid. Natural nut butters like this cashew butter recipe are best stored refrigerated to keep from going rancid or growing mold.
However, if you consume a fair amount of nut butter and go through a jar at a reasonable rate, it will also be fine if stored in the in a cool & dark place like your pantry.
Recipes Using Cashew Butter
You can use this cashew butter in any recipe calling for natural nut butter
Recipe
Cashew Butter Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups roasted cashew nuts
- pinch sea salt omit if using salted nuts
Instructions
- Add the roasted cashews and a pinch of salt to a food processor. At first the nuts turn into a flour/meal.
- Not long after the nuts start to release their oils and turn into a crumbly-creamy consistency. Then suddenly a ball forms that gets thrown around wildly in the food processor.
- You can stop to scrape down the side at any point that you feel it's necessary. Otherwise, just let the food processor do its work. It will be loud in the beginning, but calm down the more the nuts break down.
- Just as sudden as the ball formed, it will break down again and you already have a rather coarse nut butter. At this point I will definitely scrape down the sides.
- Then, I keep the food processor running until the cashew nut butter is really smooth and creamy. Now your cashew butter is ready to be filled into a jar. Careful, it may be quite warm!
- To keep nut butter from going rancid, it is best stored in the fridge.
Notes
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Random Questions
Making cashew butter at home is generally more cost-effective, especially when buying cashews in bulk, compared to purchasing pre-made cashew butter from the store.
Homemade cashew butter can last for several weeks when stored in the refrigerator, and even longer when stored in a cool, dark place like a pantry.
The texture of homemade cashew butter can vary depending on factors such as the roasting process, the power of the food processor or blender used, and the amount of processing time. Adjusting these factors can help achieve the desired creamy consistency.
Cashew butter offers different nutritional benefits compared to peanut butter, such as being a good source of healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. It can be a great option for those looking for variety in their diet.
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