How to Make Simple Cashew Butter

Let me tell you about the time Cashew Butter changed my life.  I know that sounds melodramatic but hear me out…

For years I had a serious refined sugar obsession.  I wouldn’t eat a piece of bread because ‘carbs’, but I would eat through a whole bag of red licorice for lunch.

My rationale was as follows,  “It says ‘fat free’ on the packet.  Sugar comes from nature.  It can’t be bad for me right?”

 

 

Everything was fine until I chipped a tooth and had to go to the dentist.  During my appointment the dentist discovered 6 (!!!!) teeth with cavities.

“How is that possible?” I asked.  “I brush my teeth religiously. I don’t drink soft drink or put sugar in my coffee, this must be some kind of mistake.”

“Do you ever eat jubbie lollies?” said the dentist

“Sometimes…” I replied. I had enough self awareness to know a packet of red licorice for lunch wasn’t the norm. I went from never having had a filling in my life to getting 6 at once!

 

 

Believe it or not, this wasn’t enough to stop my lunchtime licorice feast.  I mean, it worked for awhile but before I knew it I was back to eating a whole packet of red licorice for lunch.

What finally did it for me was a news item.  I can’t even remember if I saw it on the telly or read it in the paper.  Some scientist somewhere discovered consuming too much refined sugar could cause Type 2 Diabetes.  Oh my goodness –  I’m going to give myself diabetes!!

Disclosure: Let me be very clear that I did no follow up on the information to find out if it’s accurate or not.  The point is, it was enough to scare me into doing something about my unhealthy lunchtime choices.

 

I get a lot of pleasure from eating.  It’s important to me that what I eat is yummy as well as good for me. Life’s too short.

Enter: my Cashew Butter recipe.

Now, I know you can find many, many nut butter recipes out there.  But I wanted to share this one with you because it’s my favorite.

I make my Cashew Butter with roasted, salted cashews and a pinch of shredded coconut.  The addition of the shredded coconut is more about the lovely oils that are released when it’s processed rather than for taste.  My food processor isn’t that strong so the extra oils from the coconut really assist the cashews to become smooth and creamy a lot faster.

I love the mix of salty and sweet you get from this Cashew Butter.  You can spread it on bread (like my banana bread in the photo), dollop it onto porridge, or stuff it in dates for a 3pm sweet treat that is out of this world!

 

 

 

Cashew Butter

Makes approx. 1 x 200g Jar

1 x Cup of roasted and salted cashews

1 x tsp shredded coconut

 

Method

• Place the cashews and the coconut into a food processor and blend on high.
• You will need to scrape down the sides periodically.
• Keep blending for about 5-8 minutes depending on the strength of your food processor.
• The mixture will go through several different stages. Crumbly, sticky, then a lovely gooey/runny consistency.
• Once you reach the desired consistency, transfer mixture to a clean glass jar and store in the fridge.  Keeps for a couple of weeks (if it lasts that long!).