May 16, 2016 How to Make Nut Butter with a Ground Flax Boost!

Making your own nut butter is easy especially if you follow a few simple techniques to ensure the best results.

1. Choosing Nuts: Peanuts, cashews and almonds produce the smoothest nutbutters and are the easiest nuts to work with.  Hazelnuts, also, work but you have to add more fat to create a smooth texture. Nuts should be free of skins. Skins will add a bitter flavour and no amount of processing will grind them to a smooth texture. For added flavour consider buying roasted nuts or buy blanched nuts and then lightly toast them before processing.  Toasting the nuts before processing also helps to bring out the natural oils and help create that smooth nut butter texture. Nuts should also be salt free. 

2. Adding More Fat: Nuts are high in (good) fats, which is why they can be processed into nut butters. However, to achieve a really smooth and creamy texture you usually need to add a little more fat.  We choose canola oil for most of our nut butter recipes because it is low in the bad saturated fats and high in good fats such as monounsaturated and omega 3s.  Also, its neutral flavour allows the flavour of the other ingredients to shine through. We did use coconut oil for our hazelnut butter recipes because of the flavour and that it was solid at room temperature.  

3. To Sweeten or Not to Sweeten:  Not all nut butters necessarily need sweetening but if you would like a sweeter flavour choose a liquid sweetner like honey, maple syrup or agave syrup. Liquid sweeteners also act as an emulsifier to keep the all the ingredients, especially any added oil, from seperating. 

4. Safeguarding your Food Processors:  It takes about 20 minutes to process nuts into nut butter. Running your food processor for 20 minutes straight might be hard on the motor. We suggest stopping ever 5 minutes to scrape the sides of the bowl and to allow the motor to rest.

5. Add Ground Flax for a Fibre Boost!

How to Make Coconut Cashew Flax Butter

Ingredients:
•    2 cups (500 mL) roasted cashews
•    2 Tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
•    1/4 cup (60 mL) roasted ground flax
•    1/2 cup (125 mL) unsweetened coconut

Instructions:
1.    Preheat oven to 350 F (180C).  Place cashews on a cookie sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes, stirring once.  Remove cashews from the pan and add them to the food processor bowl. On the same cookie sheet spread coconut and toast for 2 minutes and set aside.
2.    Using a food processor, process cashews on low for 5 minutes.  Add canola oil and continue processing for another 15 minutes, stopping every 5 minutes to scrape down the sides of the bowl. At the end of 20 minutes the nut butter should be smooth and creamy. 
3.    Add ground flaxseed and coconut.  Blend 1 minutes to combine. 
4.    Store in an air tight container at room temperature for up to two months. It probably will not last that long! Enjoy!

Yield: 1 1/4 cup (300 mL)

Serving Size: 2 Tbsp ( 30 mL) . Each serving contains 1 tsp (5 mL) of flax.

Cooks Note: For best results it is important to use raw, unsalted nuts with no skins – you can rub the roasted nuts between a tea towel or rub them together in your hands to remove the skins.