In recent years, peanut butter , also known as peanut butter or peanut cream , has become very popular. It is a cream with an intense peanut flavor, since it is made only from peanuts, and you can use it or accompany it in a wide variety of desserts and sweet recipes.
Nowadays, you can find peanut butter or cream in any supermarket, in the area where you find cocoa cream and similar; but you can make it in the simplest way at home, knowing that you do not add other ingredients, controlling the quality of the raw material and with the satisfaction of making it at home.
In this post I tell you how to make peanut butter, I answer some common questions that arise when you are going to prepare it and I give you some tips that I hope will be very useful for preparing it, varying it to your taste and recipes to enjoy it.
How to make peanut butter
- Ingredients: about 250 gr of peeled and roasted peanuts
To make peanut butter you need roasted peanuts. So, you can buy peanuts already roasted and peeled, but it is better to buy them whole or peeled, and roast them yourself in the oven or pan just before making the cream.
How to roast peanuts before making butter?
To roast peanuts, you have two options:- Roasting peanuts in the oven: Place the shelled peanuts on a baking tray and roast them at 170 - 180 ºC for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally to ensure they don't burn.
- Toast the peanuts in a frying pan: Place the peanuts in a frying pan, place it on the heat and stir them constantly so they don't burn. Keep cooking until they look toasted.
Preparation of peanut butter:
- Place the peeled and roasted peanuts in a blender or food processor .
- Turn on the blender and the cream will be created by itself: the peanuts will release their own oil, which will help emulsify and generate the cream that will be created by constantly grinding the peanuts. From time to time, you may need to stop to scrape the sides, but keep grinding until you get the desired texture.
- When it has the texture you want, remove and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Grades:
- Some people like to add a few more drops of oil to finish the emulsion to the desired taste. It is not necessary: if you wait for it to be ground, you will see how the oil released by the peanuts helps to create a paste, the peanut butter, but if you wish or to add more oil flavour to the cream, you can do so.
- In "Ingredients" we mentioned a minimum of 250 gr of peanuts. You can use as much as you want, but you need a minimum amount so that the machine can properly pick up the peanuts to grind them (if there are too few, the blades might not reach the peanuts properly to grind them), and also so that they release the oil to emulsify.
- To make the cream we especially recommend the Magimix processor . Just to clarify that with the Magimix CookExpert you can also make the cream, because with the accessories it includes it also becomes the Magimix processor, precisely, and it works wonderfully for that.
Magimix blender and Magimix food processor
How to make a different peanut butter: ways to vary peanut butter
Peanut butter is one and only: made from peanuts. But if you're looking for ways to enjoy peanut butters that are a little different, you can do some of the following:
- Add other nuts: You can also peel walnuts, cashews or other nuts you like and bake and grind them together with the peanuts. The process is exactly the same, and you will get a delicious nut butter for sure. Experiment with combinations and quantities to suit your taste (just keep in mind that some nuts leave less oil, and if they are in a significant proportion you may need to add a few drops of oil during the process, that's all).
- Add spices: You can add a touch of ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg to the peanut butter. You'll see what an interesting flavour you get!
- Add honey or maple syrup: it will make the cream a little stickier and sweeter, and will add those special woody or floral notes of honey. Play with adding a good spoonful of your favorite honey or syrup to the peanut butter.
- Cocoa: You have to try peanuts with cocoa or carob powder. If you like the combination of this nut with chocolate, you will like to add a spoonful of cocoa or carob to the mix.
- Add a spoonful of caramel spread – the caramel flavor you get from peanut butter is amazing.
- Coconut oil: The peanut flavor goes surprisingly well with coconut oil, you have to try it.
I hope you are encouraged to prepare peanut butter at home, in your own way and with your own personalized touches of flavor. If you start, you will see how easy and rewarding it is.
Recipes with peanut butter
If you make peanut butter, you have a couple of recipes on our blog to enjoy with it. I invite you to see:
