Easy DIY Peanut Butter

It seems like recipes for DIY condiments come in two varieties: quick and easy with a minimum of ingredients, or overly complicated with a laundry-list of components. DIY nut butters fall firmly into the first category, coming together in less than five minutes with only two ingredients, or three if your peanuts aren't already salted.

There are already lots of recipes for nut butters detailed on the Internet (here's one, for example), so I won't go into a lot of details. Basically you can put it together with a few simple steps.

• Put two cups of bulk nuts into the food processor.
• Grind up the nuts for several minutes. Depending on the type of nut, they may grind smooth enough on their own. If they form a thick ball, add oil 1 TSP at a time until it is the consistency you'd like.
• Add honey and/or salt, to taste.

In the picture above, I added a bit more oil than I should have, so the resulting butter is a bit runny. Next time I will probably just try 1 TSP rather than 3.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is super fast and easy, and two of the three ingredients can be bought package-free. Peanuts are available in the bulk bins at Superstore or Co-op (I had a hard time finding them at the organic grocery stores); salt can be found in bulk at a variety of locations; if you are adding honey to yours, you can get it in bulk at Community Natural Foods. I didn't add honey to mine, but I may next time to make it slightly sweeter.

Have you ever made your own nut butter? Leave a comment!