Tag: peanut butter

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Homemade Peanut Butter (sugar-free)!

When it snows and your noon class gets canceled, what else do you do besides cook? Okay well maybe that’s just me, but snow day = kitchen marathon. I’ve already made these pancakes:

 

 

And of course added my own twist with cacao nibs, unsweetened coconut, banana rounds and chia seeds.

 

Now, it’s time to tackle my first ever batch of homemade peanut butter….

 

 

So many of the brands you’ll find in stores contain sugar and if you haven’t heard, sugar overload is killing us. I’ve wanted to make my own peanut butter for a while, but it wasn’t until a recent trip to Houston, TX that I picked up some fresh, raw peanuts from Frobergs Farm that I finally got the motivation.

 

Turns out, it’s super easy if you have a food processor! Give it a try. Warning: you might never go back to the store bought stuff.

 

 

Homemade Peanut Butter (Sugar-Free)

Makes 1 pint (or 1 wide mouth, 16 oz mason jar)

Ingredients:

For the Peanut Butter –

  • 1lb roasted peanuts, shelled
  • 1 tsp pink Himalayan sea salt (or slightly more to taste)
  • 2 – 2 1/2 Tbs coconut oil, melted

For roasting the peanuts –

  • 1lb raw peanuts, shelled
  • 1 tsp pink Himalayan sea salt
  • 1 Tbs coconut oil, melted

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place peanuts in a large bowl and toss with the melted coconut oil and salt until well coated.
  3. Place on 1 non-stick or lined sheet pan, making sure to spread them out into a single layer. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking.
  4. Remove the peanuts from the oven and let them cool before eating/using for Peanut Butter. They will continue to become crunchy as they cool.
  5. To make peanut butter, remove the skin by rubbing the peanuts together in your hands held over a salad spinner, allowing the peanuts and skins to fall into the bowl. Once the skin has been loosened from all of the peanuts close the salad spinner and spin until all of the skin has been separated from the peanuts. (This step is optional – an idea taken from Alton Brown. I skipped it and had a few skins in the mix that didn’t just naturally fall off in roasting and it still turned out well!).
  6. In a food processor, combine roasted peanuts, melted coconut oil and sea salt to taste. Pulse until smooth or slightly crunchy – we all have our  preference!

Note: you can store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a month.

 

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Sweetly Salted Nut Butter Power Cookies

After drooling over a photo of grain-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies posted by my friend Jehan on Instagram, I decided to put my own twist on a healthy, garbanzo bean-based power cookie. If you’re gluten-free, garbanzo bean flour is just about the best “alternative” flour out there. Unlike other bean flours and substitutes like almond meal, it doesn’t need to be combined with regular flour.

Not convinced? Check out this nutritional tête à tête:

Garbanzo Bean Flour:

  • 1/4 cup contains 110 calories
  • 6g protein
  • 18g of carbohydrate (of which 5g is dietary fiber)
  • 10% of the daily value for iron

Whole Wheat Flour:

  • 1/4 cup contains 110 calories
  • 4g of protein
  • 23g of carbohydrate (of which 4g is dietary fiber)
  • 6% of the daily value for iron

Brown Rice Flour:

  • 1/4 cup contains 140 calories
  • 3g of protein
  • 31g of carbohydrate (of which only 1g is dietary fiber)
  • 4% of the daily value for iron

Let’s all clap for the heavyweight champ: Garbanzo Bean Flour!

These power cookies are full of protein, dietary fiber, vitamin E, iron and a delicious kick of sea salt, dark chocolate and your favorite natural nut butter.  If you’re constantly on-the-go, this is the perfect snack to tuck in your purse, backpack or hipster messenger bag for a healthy pre- or post-workout way to (re)fuel your body.

Chocolate Nut Butter Power Cookies

IMG_3052

What You’ll Need:

  • 3/4 cup natural almond or peanut butter (raw, unsalted)
  • 1/3 cup raw honey (+2 tbs hot water)
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp  baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp table salt
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt (to spring on top)

How to Make Them:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
  2. In a KitchenAid mixer or food processor, mix your nut butter, raw honey and water until smooth. Add in apple sauce, egg and vanilla extract and blend again.
  3. Slowly fold in the dry mix, blending as you go.
  4. Mix in the chocolate chips with a baking spatula. (Don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t look like the typical cookie mix. It is meant to be very thick and sticky.)
  5. With wet hands, form into 1″ balls. Place balls 1″ apart on a piece of parchment paper. Gently press down on each with a fork, criss-crossing imprints if you want to be fancy.
  6. Sprinkle each cookie with a few grains of coarse sea salt (if you’re into the whole salted-sweets crazy like I am:). Bake for ~10 min.

If you try this recipe out, let me know what you think. The dough can be hard to work with but these tasty power cookies are worth it!