Jars of Cashew Butter

I returned home from vacation to a near travesty: I had no nut butter in the pantry! I took my half-empty (or half-full, your choice!) jar of Naturally Nutty’s Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter with me on vacation to share with my mom and sisters, and left the remainder (probably 1/4 of the jar) with them when my husband and I left two days earlier than the others.

Inspired by Katie, Sarah, and others, I decided to put the jar of raw cashews I had on hand to good use!

Raw ingredients, pre-roasting

I made almond butter a few months ago and discovered that raw nuts make below-par nut butter. I guess roasting adds important flavor?

So I decided to toss my cashews with unsweetened coconut, agave nectar, and cinnamon, and roast them in the oven. This cinnamon is incredible!

Amazing Cinnamon from The Spice Diva

Unfortunately, I was multi-tasking, and let my nuts roast a little bit too long…

A little over-roasted…

I was able to pick out the most charred pieces, so while not perfect, this still worked fine. The slightly “toasted” flavor of the finished butter adds charm

I threw the nuts (unfortunately, most of the coconut got a little too brown to make it into the final mix) into the food processor and let the magic happen.

Getting Creamy…Amazing!

I added a bit (less than a tablespoon) of coconut butter in the middle of the blending process because I felt like it was a little dry, perhaps due to the over-roasting of the nuts. The final texture is perfect–smooth, creamy, and a little bit drippy.

I didn’t measure or time anything for this experiment, but here are the main ideas:

Cinnamon Cashew Butter

Ingredients

• Raw Cashews
• Cinnamon
• Unsweetened, shredded coconut
• Agave nectar (or honey)
• Coconut Oil

Method

• Line a pan with parchment paper and heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Toss nuts, cinnamon, coconut, and agave nectar on together. Spread onto the pan.
• Roast for 10 – 15 minutes, checking often.
• Place contents of the pan into a food processor.
• Blend until a butter os formed. If the mix looks dry, add coconut oil, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

Delicious!

I’ve been enjoying this delicious concoction spread on Cville Crunch bread as an afternoon snack. As with most of my kitchen experiments, this nut butter is a work in progress, but not bad for my first attempt at roasting the nuts before processing the butter.

What is your favorite nut butter? Almond, cashew, or the classic peanut butter?

-L