Nut Butters ! Brazil Nut + Espresso – Macadamia + Chocolate – Chai + Sunflower seeds

So im not really into the sweet, I always prefer salty savory things to eat, but when saltines and sweet are mixed together with toasted nutty flavor, you got me totally hooked. When spending time in NY, I always had a spoon or two of peanut butter from the jar, and then I discovered almond butter and OMG. It became a must on my grocery shopping list. Now you now I’m in Bolivia now so no nut butters available. Time to make my own ! And im so glad  i have to, cause it’s super easy and off course cheaper than store-bought.

Nut butters. Brazil Nut + Espresso, Macadamia + Chocolate and Chai Sunflower seeds

It’s something that anyone can enjoy, vegan or not. The possibilities are endless and you can combine them with almost everything ! Fruit, Yoghurt, crackers, pancakes, you can also add a spoon to your smoothies. Now here I wanted to play a little bit with the flavors. You can off course just make them plain and the will still be delicious, but when you add some flavour you like (coffee in my case) it tastes like heaven.

I decided to try classic combinations, but you can go beyond and make also spicy ones. If you make Tahini for example, you can add some harissa paste or dry chilis. You have the recipe for Tahini here. But today let’s focus on the sweet ones.

Nut Butters. Brazil Nuts +Espresso, Macadamia Nuts + Chocolate, Chai Sunflower seeds butter

My bff told me yesterday she was making raw vegan crackers on the dehydrator, so I really hope she makes some of these butters and eat them together.

I’m using a lot of Brazil nuts lately I know, but that’s because on this side of the world they are cheap and available. Almonds are some weird, expensive novelty, but if you want, you can use any nut you like. And for those one’s out there who have a nut allergy, I made one with sunflower seeds. So no one is excluded here !

Brazil Nuts + Espresso butter, Macadamia Nuts + Chocolate butter, Chai sunflower seeds butter

So here it is:

Brazil Nuts + Espresso  butter

makes about 250 ml

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup raw brazil nuts
• 2 tbsp fresh ground espresso beans
• 1 tbsp organic molasses (you can replace with agave syrup / honey / maple syrup)
• 1 tsp organic coconut oil
• 1 pinch sea salt

Preparation: 

1. Put the nuts in a large oven tray. Toast them in the oven on low temperature for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. Be careful here because nuts tend to burn really fast, so keep an eye on them. Remove from the oven and transfer the nuts to a high-speed blender or food processor. I use a blender. Slowly start to blend the nuts on low-speed until they come to crumbs, slowly increase the speed and the butter will start to form. Now be patient here and resist the temptation to add any liquid, just add the coconut oil and keep blending while increasing the speed. This is gonna take about 15 minutes. If you feel your blender or food procesor is gonna explode, you can make a pause and turn it off for a while. Once you reach a creamy consistency, add the espresso and the molasses with the blender on, and continue for 2 more minutes. Now turn it off and transfer your butter to a glass sealed container. You can store this in the fridge for up to a month.

Macadamia + Chocolate butter

makes about 250 ml

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 3 tbsp  raw organic chocolate grated or organic cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp organic molasses (you can replace with agave syrup / honey / maple syrup)
• 1 pinch of salt

Preparation: 

Repeat the steps from the Brazil Nut butter preparation. In this case I skipped the coconut oil because Macadamia nuts have more oil and i was able to blend them easily. Also you will notice that the consistency is more liquid. This one tastes like nutella but better and healthier 😉

 

Chai Sunflower seeds butter

makes about 250 ml

Ingredients:

• 1  1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp ground cloves
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground cardamom
• 1 tbsp organic molasses (you can replace with agave syrup / honey / maple syrup)
• 2 tbsp organic coconut oil
• 1 pinch of salt

Preparation: 

Repeat the steps from the Brazil Nut butter preparation. In this case I added more coconut oil because the seeds are a little bit harder to blend and also you will be adding more dry ingredients in the end. Feel free to add a little bit more if you want, just add it little by little.

 

Enjoy 🙂