Cooking from Scratch - Make Your Own Peanut Butter

One of the things I was on my soapbox about in this post  was the high price of peanut butter.  There is not much to making peanut butter so you are getting just the picture above.  I know, my creativity is just too much for you isn't it?  Well, here is how you make your own peanut butter:  find some peanuts that you like, put them in the food processor (or blender), and blend until smooth or as chunky as you want.  I did need to add about a teaspoon of vegetable oil to get the peanut butter as smooth as we like it.  I bought dry roasted unsalted peanuts that were mu local store brand.  I paid $4.79 for 2 lbs of peanuts and I am expecting that to make me 3 small or two large jars.    I also bought some natural almonds and made some almond butter.  I believe I bought the bad they sell at Aldi for $5.00 to use as a test bag, and now that I know it works I might look for a source of natural almonds that I can buy in bulk.  The almond butter is a little thicker than peanut butter but I love it on a whole grain english muffin for breakfast.  It keeps me full for hours! 

The other factor to include in this is I can make more healthy nut butters.  For example I can add ground flax, etc to get more omega 3's.  It may be a way to sneak some vitamins in if you have picky eaters.  You can add sugar if you want to, I don't, but I know your children may not eat it without sugar.  After eating it once or twice I really did not notice the lack of sugar anymore.  Maybe you can add some and decrease it with each batch until the family is used to it?  I store the butters in a glass jelly jar or larger canning jar in the refrigerator.  I have not tried to can it in a water bath yet but plan to try, i will have to let you know how that works out. 

If you give it a try please leave us a comment!