Homemade Peanut Butter

My family eats a large amount of peanut butter and I have had a soft spot for it ever since I can remember. My mom made her own from scratch and I loved the days she made it and put it on homemade toast with honey, yum! My two boys seem to have inherited my peanut butter obsession and can eat jars of it in a weeks time. Store bought peanut butter isn't bad, but the taste of homemade is so much better, so I have experimented with the recipe over the years until I have found one that works.

Homemade peanut butter is very easy to make. Only three ingredients are needed for the roasting and
four for the actual peanut butter. To roast the peanuts, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place two pounds of raw peanuts in the shell on a baking sheet. Toss with a small amount of peanut oil and kosher salt and roast for about 25 to 30 minutes. After the peanuts have cooled enough to touch, shell and peel off the skin. For the peanut butter place the roasted peanuts into a food processor and add honey, salt and peanut oil until the desired consistency is reached. I normally process the peanuts by themselves until they are finely ground and then add the other three ingredients to taste. You can actually get away with adding very little oil if you use spanish peanuts which have a higher oil content, but I have only been able to find virginia peanuts locally, so I have to add additional peanut oil. Place the finished peanut butter in the fridge and it should last about 2 months, but we always eat ours in a week or two.

This is a very easy way to get protein in my family's diet and takes very little effort to make. I love that homemade peanut butter doesn't include any of the preservatives or additives that many store bought varities contain. My two year old enjoyed this recipe on the spelt pancakes from one of my previous posts and absolutetly loved it. A delicious, easy recipe that is a great way to use peanuts and add extra protein.