Make your own.....Peanut Butter!!!!

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Everyone ready to learn how to make peanut butter???
Get your stuff ready. Ingredients: Peanuts, salt. The end.

Well, and something to put it in. I use Ball jars.

I started with a 16 oz (1 pound) bag of roasted, UNSALTED, peanuts. This is about 3 cups of peanuts. The general rule I have found is, a 2:1 ratio. However much peanuts you start with, you will have 1/2 as much peanut butter. So this will make about a cup and a half, maybe slightly more, of peanut butter. About 12-16 ounces (1 pint).

Okay, ready? Step 1: PUT PEANUTS IN FOOD PROCESSOR.

Step 2: BLEND.
(I did stop this at several different stages so you can see the different stages and know how long to take it. I stopped to early the very first time I made it.)

You can see after about 30 sec, you just have finely chopped peanuts. (this part is loud)

After running about 30 more seconds, you start to see teeeeeeeeny bit of paste forming at the bottom.

After about another 30 seconds, you get this...a thick pasty ball spinning around. Much like pastry crust. Keep going. (this is where I stopped unknowingly the first time.)

After another 30 seconds, you get a much softer, creamier ball moving around. This is where I add the salt. Only 1/2-1 teaspoon. I'm only doing a 1/2 this time, because I thought 1 was too much. Personal preference!!

Keep going about another 30 seconds until you see this....creamy liquidy peanut buttery yumminess. The longer you blend, the more natural oils get forced out of the nuts. YOU DO NOT NEED TO ADD ANY OIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

total time=THREE MINUTES.

It will be a little runnier from the heat of the food processor. That's okay. It'll firm up just enough in the fridge. This will not be "creamy" like "Jif creamy". It does have a little grit to it, but all the "natural" peanut butters that don't have anything but peanuts & salt are like this. If you have only eaten Jif or Skippy your whole life, it may take some getting used to. But I already made that transition about a year ago with jarred kinds. And the boys don't notice a difference at all. Kids can even help make this, and learn something too! I have also noticed that this doesn't require any stirring (the oil doesn't separate) and is spreadable right out of the fridge, unlike the other stuff I was using. Go figure.
Fill up container.

Refridgerate.

I think this lasts about a month in the fridge, although we go through this amount in one week. Sky's the limit here too, kids. You can do this with any kind of nut.....pecan, almond, cashew, macadamia, hazelnut...... and you can even add chocolate chips, honey, maple, anything you want! Just add a little bit at a time and and have fun with it. Don't think "Nutella" (hazlenuts and chocolate) isn't on my list.

Seeds too....pepitas (pumpkin seeds), sunflower seeds, etc. I have a bag of sunflower seeds in the pantry waiting it's turn. I'll put it up when I get to it...I'm curious how it will be, how much it will make, etc.

Here's the price breakdown:

This bag of peanuts cost $2.29 at Whole Foods. They have several kinds in the prepackaged, and also in the bulk thingys. But they are more expensive per ounce, for some reason. Obviously you can go organic here too.

If you have to buy the jar, add 50 cents.

Assuming you have a jar or tupperware to put it in already, you are spending $2.29 and 3 minutes for 16 ounces of all natural peanut butter. That's 14cents/oz.

To compare, Smuckers All Natural creamy peanut butter (contains only peanuts and salt) costs 16-18cents per ounce, depending on where you get it and what size jar you get. But wait, that's a WEIGHT measurement. So I figured out the weight of my 16 ounces of peanut butter,and it's about 15 ounces. So the cost of at home PB is about 15cents/oz. Still less than in store, and you're making it at home, and you know exactly what's in it, what equipment it was processed on, etc. Worth it to me!!