Homemade Peanut Butter

Today was such an exciting day! Not only do we have fantastic weather again, but it was also the first delivery of the season for The Produce Box. This week provided a nice preview of what can be expected to be a very bountiful year. I chose the Harvest Box this week which included one English cucumber, sweet potatoes, whole wheat bread, one big tomato, carrots, strawberries (add-on) and 2 quarts of raw, unshelled peanuts.

What in the world was I supposed to do with that many peanuts? Everything else can be gobbled up in a matter of no time, but the peanuts - I was going to have to think for a minute. I suddenly remembered that last year I purchased a Produce Box add-on of Mackey's Ferry Creamy Peanut Butter, which is quite possibly the most delicious peanut butter I've ever had (I tasted it at the NC State Fair last year for the first time). Since it contains very few ingredients, I wanted to see if I could make something similar. I did a little googling to figure out what to do.

Turns out that raw, unshelled peanuts are useless unless you boil or roast them. Since peanut butter is best made with roasted peanuts, I oven roasted them on a cookie sheet at 350° F for about 20 minutes, turning them with a big spoon every 5 minutes. The house smelled like peanut butter cookies afterwards!

Step 1: Oven roast at 350° F for about 20 min on a
cookie sheet, turning at regular intervals.

Next I had to wait because they were too hot to touch. The second step was definitely the most tedious and took well over an hour: shelling and skinning the peanuts.

Step 2: Shell and peel

Then came the fun part! Actually making the peanut butter. To do this, I put all the shiny, skinless, roasted peanuts in my food processor.

Step 3: Skinless, roasted peanuts in the food processor

Next I laid out the ingredients I needed. I never really measure so had to go by taste and appearance to get it just right.

The ingredients: the peanuts, peanut oil, molasses,
coconut oil, ground sea salt, brown sugar

The ingredients are really simple (my measurements are approximate because I didn't measure):

1) Skinless, roasted peanuts (It takes more time to oven-roasting, shell and skin the peanuts yourself, but it is definitely worth it)
2) 1-2 tablespoons of peanut oil
3) Roughly a heaping tablespoon of organic, virgin coconut oil (I got mine at Trader Joe's). The coconut aroma from the coconut oil adds the perfect undertone
4) Molasses - approx. 1-2 tablespoons
5) 1-2 teaspoons of freshly ground sea salt
6) Just around 1 tablespoon of brown sugar

Put everything in the food processor and blend at the highest speed until very creamy. Add any of the above ingredients to adjust consistency or flavor.

The result:

Super yummy, creamy homemade peanut butter. Store in the refrigerator to preserve freshness - it will also firm up a bit more because the coconut oil solidifies at colder temperatures, making it easier to spread.

Enjoy!