Saturday, February 21, 2015

Simply Superb Homemade Sunflower Seed Butter

So easy, so simple, so tasty! No more words are needed for this lovely sunflower seed butter. Delicious served in a sandwich or with toast, fruits, and veggies; it is also good by itself on a spoon!

I decided to make my own as the store-bought ones all had sugar of one kind or another. Although I like some things sweet, I did not want my seed/nut butters to be sweet :) - so I got the seeds and got to work!!

If you purchase raw seeds, simply roast them in a skillet or in the oven; let cool and proceed with the recipe. Sunflower seeds are soft and does not take much time to process into butter. I have had this sunflower seed butter recipe in the drafts and had forgotten to post it!

Ingredients:

2 cups Sunflower seeds, roasted
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Sea Salt

Method:

Roast the sunflower seeds in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes or toast them in a skillet; let cool.

Place the sunflower seeds and the salt (use the smaller quantity first - can add more if needed later) in the bowl of a food processor.

Pulse until coarsely ground.

Process until the mixture begins to clump and keep the motor going.

Quickly, the mixture begins to form into butter. Process until it is very creamy and as smooth or as you like it. 

Taste and add more salt if needed, and process until mixed well.

Scrape into a clean sterile jar and keep tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Serve with toast, crackers, apples, pears, bananas, veggies etc.

Enjoy!! 

Simple & Delicious Homemade Peanut Butter

Making delicious home-made Peanut Butter is even easier than making Almond Butter!  Just roast raw skinless peanuts, let cool, grind and voila! for the best-tasting peanut butter you have ever tasted :).

I buy raw, skinless (blanched) peanuts rather than go through the tedious task of skinning them myself. Peanuts are a little more work than blanching almonds. Using a kadai (Indian wok) assures even heating and browning of the peanuts. Any wok will do.

Note: Peanut butter is a concentrated food; do use caution as it is very easy to eat lots of this delicious homemade peanut butter. The serving size is a meager 2 Tablespoons!!

Ingredients: 

1 lb skinless raw peanuts
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2  Tbsp Peanut Oil

Method:

Prepare a large baking pan or sheet with paper towels - you will pour the cooked peanuts to drain the excess oil here.

Heat the oil over medium high heat in the kadai/wok. When the oil is at the right temperature, you will see a light haze over it - but be careful to not let it smoke and burn.

Add the peanuts to the oil and cook stirring constantly until the nuts are evenly golden brown  - this might take about 10 minutes. You may like to have someone helping you with the stirring with a promise of the peanut butter to taste ;)!

When the peanuts turn a nice golden brown, remove from heat and stir in the salt. 

Immediately pour the peanuts onto the paper towel lined baking pan, spread and let cool completely - about 20 - 30 minutes.

Place the drained nuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, cover and process.

Process the peanut butter to your preferred consistency - chunky or smooth.

Go ahead and taste the delicious peanut butter - spread some on slices of apples or banana or a piece of toast. Yum!!

Scrape the rest of the peanut butter into a clean jar, cover and keep in the fridge.

Enjoy!!