maple pb @ home

recipe @ home | maple peanut butter  | four ingredients

one day, my daughter came home with some news. apparently, her friend had politely informed her that her favorite food included insect and rodent filth. according to fda.gov, factory peanut butter legally is allowed to include “30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams” and an “average of one or more rodent hairs per 100 grams.”

we decided to make our own.

recipe

ingredients:

• 1 pound peanuts, roasted, unsalted

• 4 1/2 tablespoons maple sugar

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon sea salt

instructions:

1. place all of the peanuts, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the maple sugar, and the sea salt in a food processor. for easy mixing, only the dry ingredients go in first.

2. turn the knob on the food processor to half of the maximum speed (for example, notch speed 1 out of 2). blend until the mixture looks like dry beach sand. always keep an eye on the mixture. pulse if necessary. do not overmix.

3. turn off the food processor and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. blend on a low-medium setting until it starts to look a little creamy. this is a fairly quick process. blending should only take 5 - 30 seconds for each step.

4. turn off the food processor and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. repeat blending until it becomes creamier.

5. turn off the food processor. add 1 1/2 tablespoons of maple sugar and process again. repeat this step one more time.

6. continue to blend until the consistency is to your liking. immediately stop when it is the exact texture you want it to be. overmixing any further and the peanuts start releasing peanut oil creating a sloppy mess and something you will not want to eat.

7. place leftovers in the refrigerator.

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this version is neither too creamy, nor too smooth. essentially, it is the perfect hybrid design of peanut butter!

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bonus tips:

• olive oil is used to soften the texture of this peanut butter. olive oil is one of my mainstays for its load of disease-fighting antioxidants. you cannot even tell it is in there. and you get all of the benefits.

notes:

• this is a “bee-free, honey-roasted” peanut butter. it is overprocessed-sugar-free too!

• factory maple nut butters often use maple sugar to create the “maple” in maple nut butters. this is a specialty ingredient, not frequently available at your local grocery store. i purchase vermont maple sugar from king arthur flour baking company.

• the photo features trader joe’s vanilla bean infused maple syrup. i perfected this recipe and switched from using maple syrup to maple sugar. the switch to maple sugar upgraded the recipe. this maple peanut butter recipe replicates justin’s famous nut butters now!

• this item must be refrigerated as it is free of preservatives.