I am a mother to two teenage boys. They are both obsessed with nut butter of almost every kind. Obviously, peanut butter is a favorite, followed closely by almond butter. They’ve recently become interested in cashew butter and even sunflower butter. I probably don’t have to mention this, but they also love chocolate hazelnut spread.
They put this butter on everything. Apples, crackers, rice cakes, and sometimes they just go for it straight out of the jar, but only when I’m not looking. These things get expensive, and they go quickly in our house. I thought it might be time to start making our own. It wouldn’t last long enough to go bad, so worrying about the preservatives from the store-bought stuff didn’t seem like it was an issue.
I own a Cuisinart food processor which typically gets used for holidays or other special occasions when there is a lot of cooking involved. I never really considered the fact that I could make peanut butter or anything like that with it. I got to googling and found a whole bunch of recipes for different nut butter.
I started with the basics: making regular peanut butter and almond butter. They were both great successes, so I went for it and made cashew butter and sunflower butter as well. My sons raved about it, saying that it was even better than the store-bought stuff because it was fresher.
This gave me the push I needed to start experimenting. I knew that if I was going to do this, I should probably be proactive and purchase more blades and bowls for my food processor. I began searching on the KitchenWorksInc. website, and found just what I needed. They carry Cuisinart DLC-7 parts that are genuine and not some cheap aftermarket brand.
I asked my boys for ideas for what different types of nut butter they would enjoy, mentioning that I could always add cinnamon or cocoa powder to any of them to make something a little different. They were game for whatever I wanted to attempt. Of course, they mentioned the hazelnut chocolate spread, so I went for it. It was heavenly.
We decided to try a few that I had never even seen in the stores: walnut butter, pistachio butter, and pecan butter. They were all big hits with my son and their friends. Now I’m the cool mom who makes experimental nut butter and has the best snacks. That is a major mom goal.
Now I make these nut butter regularly for my kids. They go fast, but I’m on top of it so we don’t run out. We alternate between two different kinds whenever I make batches. Aside from making a nutritious and filling snack for my boys, it ends up saving us a lot of money. I go and buy the nuts in bulk since they can be awfully expensive. They will never go to waste in this house.
My kids are happy because after all, they are growing boys with bottomless pits for stomachs. I’m happy to have discovered such an amazing use for my Cuisinart food processor and to save my family money. It’s an all-around win!