Cashew nut butter

I realize that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I should probably post a more appropriate recipe, but this is what I have ready, so this is what you get!  There are a few Fall/Thanksgiving appropriate dishes on the blog that you can check out if you need some last minute inspiration, though.

I enjoy making my own nut butter flavors at home.  They're relatively easy and you can experiment with any number of nut/flavor combinations you can think of. I'm still experimenting with flavors, but so far, I've made plain pumpkin seed butter (can't wait to try this with some cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger or all 3), maple cinnamon pecan butter (OMG, to die for, recipe coming soon), and this cashew butter.   

Nut butters can be used in the same way that you would use peanut butter: sandwiches, cookies (recipe coming up for cashew butter cookies), granola, smoothies, etc.

For the sandwiches below, I made a "Peanut butter & jelly" sandwich, but with the cashew butter and lingonberry preserves (cranberry sauce would work well, too). I gotta say, it was a pretty outstanding sandwich as far as PB&J goes.

Cashew nut butter

This is more of a concept than a hard and fast recipe; you can scale this up or down and add as little or as much flavorings as desired.  I prefer to roast my own nuts so I can add any liquids before roasting and allow for caramelization.  However, you can use already roasted nuts and add your liquids in the processor; just use a little bit less.  Also, if you don't want to add the honey, you shouldn't need to add any oil; for some reason the honey clumps up the cashew butter.

Ingredients

• 16oz (1 pound) cashews
• 2-3 Tablespoons honey, or to taste
• ~1 teaspoon salt
•  5 teaspoons oil (I used a combo of grapeseed and coconut)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Coat cashews with honey (and any other flavorings).  Roast for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally,  until they're a light golden brown; keep an eye on them because under done is better than over done in this case! 

Place nuts in food process and process until the texture doesn't change anymore, stopping regularly to scrape down the bowl.  The nuts will go through several stages (check out the above pic) and it might take awhile - 15 minutes or so. Add the salt and slowly pour in the oil.  Process until you get a fairly smooth consistency.

I store my nut butters in old glass peanut butter jars.  They'll be fine out of the fridge for a few months, but if you're unsure, you can store them in the fridge.