honey roasted walnut butter

I made my first nut butter and I'm totally hooked! Growing up, I've only ever had peanut butter and never even considered making my own nut butter. I never thought it would be so simple to make!

I tried walnut butter for the first time a few months ago at a friend's house. I was skeptical at first but after my first piece of toast, I was asking for more! Unfortunately, when I went into stores to check out these fancy schmancy nut butters, I found that they were super expensive - and you only get a really tiny jar's worth of butter.

Now, that I know the secret to making these little jars of goodness, I'll be saving a lot more money!

I roasted my walnuts, combined everything in a food processor and stored them into little jars - it was as simple as that. I roasted the nuts by baking them in the oven but you can also toast them on a pan over a stove.

I tried the recipe with both a batch of raw walnuts and a batch of toasted walnuts and I thought the toasted version tasted a lot better. If you're like me and you're a fan of chunky peanut butter, this is for you! I love the coarse texture and toasted nutty taste.

Recipe: Honey Roasted Walnut Butter (makes a little under 1/2 a cup)

Ingredients:

• 1 cups raw walnuts
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vegetable oil optional)

What to do:

1. Optional: Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread walnuts evenly on the tray and bake for 15 minutes on 150°C or until slightly brown. Allow the walnuts to cool
2. Transfer the walnuts into a food processor. 
3. Run the processor until the walnuts turn coarse and flour like. 
4. Add the salt, honey and cinnamon. Run the processor until smooth or to your liking.
5. Scrape down the sides when necessary. 

If you want chunks of nuts through out the butter, you can put aside a tablespoon of chunk nuts before it turns flour like. If you're lazy and impatient like me - I stopped running the processor early so the consistency was pretty thick but still spreadable. 

I'm pretty sure you can store these in sealable jars and leave them in the fridge - for how long - I'm not sure. My walnut butter didn't even last 3 days before it was all gone! I guess I'll be making more very soon!