Homemade Peanut Butter

Source: Pick Your Own
Link: http://pickyourown.org/howtomakepeanutbutter.htm

Directions for Making Peanut Butter

Makes about 1 quart of peanut butter

Ingredients

1 bag of unshelled peanuts or 1 can (2 cups or 1 lb) of shelled, raw or roasted peanuts (I think unsalted is healthier - you can always add salt, if you want to)

Vegetable oil (just a small amount, 1 or 2 tablespoons). I prefer peanut oil, but corn, sunflower, safflower, etc,. all work. I would not use olive oil because it would adversely affect the taste.

Equipment

Blender or Food processor (a blender or fine food grinder seems to work best)
Bowl
Spatula

Recipe and Directions

Step 1 - Shell the peanuts

Unless you bought shelled peanuts, you will obviously need to shell them and discard the shells (they make great mulch in the garden or add to your compost). I just quickly shell them by hand, and don't bother much with the thin read skins. When I have the peanuts shelled, I take them outside and just blow into the bowl while stirring it. The skins float away!

Step 2 - Assemble your blender or food processor and ingredients

Set up your blender or food processor with the metal food processor blade attached, and add 2 cups of raw or roasted shelled peanuts into it.

Step 3 - Get chopping!

Cover the bowl with the blender's lid and chop up the peanuts continuously for 2 to 3 minutes or until the mixture starts to clump up and is finely chopped.

Step 4 - Scrape and finish chopping

Scrape down the food processor bowl to mix back the peanuts that are pushed to the outside where they won't get chopped. Process until you get the consistency you like (chunky or smooth).

Step 5 - Add the vegetable oil.

Most peanuts don't contain enough oil naturally to make a smooth butter. You only need to add about 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil (peanut oil is best, obviously, but any neutral flavored oil, like sunflower or canola oil works). Just mix it in with a fork. Your blender may not be powerful enough to do this without sticking, so you may want to mix the oil in, in a separate bowl.

Step 6 - Tasting

Taste the peanut butter and add a touch of salt, if you like! For those that prefer a sweet peanut butter, you can add 1 tablespoon of honey, brown sugar or, if you are diabetic, Stevia, my preference (or if you prefer, Splenda) or other artificial sweetener.

Step 7 - Eat or store

Just spoon peanut butter into a jar and seal. Store it in the refrigerator until you use it. It should keep for a month or two. You can also freeze it. It will keep indefinitely in the freezer. In both cases, you may need to stir the peanut butter to mix the oils back in (the oil tends to separate over time). And no, you cannot "can" the peanut butter - it is too low acid to safely can with home equipment.