Mixed Nut Butter

 I’d been planning and planning and thinking of making almond butter for a very long time. I love peanuts and I love peanut butter and I like the fact that it is so easy to make at home and the fact that it is versatile and does well as a spread on anything, from Marie biscuits (with a dab of Nutella too!), to rotis and breads and even as a filling in biscuits, such as these lovely Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies.

What I do not like is the fact that with this kind of versatility and ease of preparation, it is easy to also put on weight and struggle with losing it. But that, of course, is a story for another day. Then, while blog hopping one day, I realised that there are butters with all sorts of nuts. My mind went on a nutty joyride and the more I read about it, the more I salivated. I’m a ‘nutty’ kind of girl that way. That, and the fact that we had huge packets of nuts of all sorts at home, should have ensured I plunged into nut butter heaven ages ago.

Mixed Nut Butter/Almond-Walnut-Cashew Butter with Orange Zest

 But I’m also a lazy sort of person. One who salivates and dreams more than trying to turn them into reality! And the joyrides remained a fantasy, till last weekend that is. When I finally put on my apron and declared to an empty house that I would get on with the task right then. And I’m so glad I did! And since that happy 15 minutes of easy nut toasting and mixer-grinder running, I’ve been spreading this buttery goodness to make little nut-butter-choco-chip-biscuit-pizza bites and evening sandwiches, making it a perfect Day 3 entry for Srivalli’s Blogging Marathon.

Choco Chip Peanut Butter Biscuit Pizza

Nut Butter with Chocolate & Nuts

It even came in handy a few weekends ago when I’d made 6 chocolate brownie cupcakes that proved to be an insufficient dessert for 12. While I was preparing the icing for the 6 little brown fellows (btw, that was my first attempt at icing), the apartment bell rang to announce six unexpected guests. I cut each cupcake into two, spread this nut butter along with some orange zest on top and the ‘mixed but unbeaten’ royal icing over that and garnished with some choco chips for a fun little dessert.

That reminds me, I’m yet to post about these little brownie cupcakes that I baked recently. The brownie chewiness laced with the strong cocoa flavour was well complimented by the nut butter really well.  For now, just enjoy the picture!

Chocolate chip brownie

 Let’s get on with the nut butter recipe.

Mixed Nut Butter 

Ingredients:

Almonds – a heaped ¼ cup

Walnuts – almost ¼ cup

Cashew nuts – a handful

Oil – 1 tsp (I used sunflower oil; you could use olive or canola too)

Note: I used 2 tsp and that made the butter a little ‘runny’. It would be better to add less

Method:

Toast almonds, walnuts and cashews separately

Put the almonds first into the mixer-grinder (or food processor if you have one) and run it till they’re broken down into coarse little bits

Then add walnuts and pulse a coupe of time

Now add the cashews and run the mixer till it starts turning into a paste

Add oil ½ tsp at a time and grind till you get a coarse paste

Store refrigerated in an airtight container

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