Homemade peanut butter is one of life’s simple pleasures. It is pretty easy to make, stores well, and every batch I have ever made tastes good. A question that immediately comes to mind is: “Why make peanut butter?” After all, it is cheap and plentiful at the store. Even if you were just looking to avoid the hight fructose corn syrup that exists in most there are many “natural” brands that exist without added sugar. That is all true, and yet still I like to make my own. Why?

I think it comes out tasting better than the “natural” store bought brands, and it really doesn’t take much work. Plus you can tweak things to your liking. I enjoy a little honey in my peanut butter. Some things are just worth trying to make once. If only to see how it gets to the shelves of your stores. It is easy to forget how much modern industrialization has saved us in labor and time. An occasional reminder is refreshing.

Directions

I start with 2 cups (~10oz) of dry roasted peanuts (you can use honey roasted or any other nuts for that matter) in a food processor.
Turn food processor on. At one minute it should look coarse but kind of like peanut butter (see picture)
At two minutes, it will look about done. Don’t stop there! I take the top off and scrape down all the sides to make sure everything is getting combined well.
Take this time to add ingredients
1. 2-3 teaspoons of peanut oil (for added creaminess)
2. 1 Tablespoon of honey (I like tupelo)
3. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Continue processing for an additional minute, and you have peanut butter!

Ingredients: I have worked out those ratios based on my tastes. You can get by with out adding anything or by adding lots of stuff. Just don’t go overboard with the salt, that can sneak up on you. The two cups of starting peanuts used my 20oz jar in two pretty even batches. Dropping down slightly to a 16oz jar of peanuts should be fine.

Food Processor: I have made this with a smaller food processor and it had a lot of trouble keeping up. If yours doesn’t look like my picture at the set times, then keep going till you get the right texture. Drop back on the amount of peanuts next time. Mileage may vary with the quality and power of food processor.

Storage: I stick mine in cleaned half pint mason jars. The 20oz of peanuts gave 3 half-pint jars of peanut butter. These can not be canned with normal methods, but do store well in the fridge for a few months. These jars will not last that long in the Hansel household.

Cold peanut butter tough to spread? Give it a 20 second trip through the microwave to get the right viscosity. A longer trip will make it more like a dessert drizzle for ice cream! The texture is pretty smooth, but you will never get it as smooth as the skippy guys do. Crunchy peanut butter can be made by chopping up a small batch of nuts in the processor before hand, and combining in the final few seconds of your batch.