Creamy Cashew Nut Butter!

Whilst browsing various healthy living recipes I have found that a lot of them call for use of 'nut butters', and homemade ones. So I decided that I would give it a go, and make some Cashew butter. 

Cashews have one of the lowest fat contents of all nuts, and they are rich in Iron, Selenium, Magnesium and Zinc. They are also a great source of antioxidants and protein... So what is not to love about them! This nut butter couldnt have been easier to make either- all you need is a food processor and some Cashews!

Heres the recipe: (makes one medium-large sized jar)

-175g raw Cashew nuts

-1 tbsp Groundnut oil 

-Large pinch of Salt

-1 tbsp Agarve Nectar/ Honey

-Unswetened Cocoa powder (optional for Chocolate version)

How to make:

-First of all roast the Cashews in the oven on a baking tray until they are all slightly browned, and leave to cool.

-Then put them in the food processor and whizz up for about 2 minutes. They will start to look like fine crumbs, but keep going! Whizz for another 3-6 minutes and add the Groundnut oil to losen the mixture as it will start to form a big clump.

-Then add the salt and Agarve Nectar and keep whizzing until the mixture looks smooth and creamy. Make sure to keep tasting to see if it needs more salt/nectar (but that is down to your own preferences!)

-Then put it in to a sterilised jar and enjoy!

-For the Chocolate version, just add a tablespoon or so of the unsweetened Cocoa powder and whizz until combined!

Stage 1 - Roasting the raw Cashews until browned all over

Stage 2 - Put the roasted Cashews in to the food processor

Stage 3 - The Cashews will start to look like crumbs after a minute or so

Stage 4 - The natural oils will start to come out after a couple of minutes of whizzing and it will start to clump together

Stage 5 - Add the oil, Agarve nectar and salt

Stage 6 - The finished butter should look smooth and creamy

Stage 7 - Put the Cashew butter in to a suitable jar and enjoy!

This was a chocolate version that I made with some remaining Cashew butter that wouldn't fit in the jar! It wasn't particularly chocolatey, so perhaps adding more cocoa powder would have worked better. But still yummy!