Loubie Loup

Home-made Peanut Butter

At the moment, I am living in Spain (Viva Espana!) on my Erasmus year abroad.

Now the food out here is great and I can find most things out here that I want or need. Although there are a few exceptions.....

When I went back to the UK for christmas, I came back to Spain with a jar of Marmite (of course), a bumper pack of noodles, chilli flakes, 3 jars of curry paste, my all time favourite muslie, and a big jar of peanut butter. Consequently, you can see that in the everyday supermarkets, they do not sell anything with a bit of spice, or anything that may seem just that little bit international. The Spanish really do just eat the well-known 'Mediterranean Diet'! A month on, and all my 'peany-b' is gone.... Que Desastre!

Whilst there is just the one brand of peanut butter available in my local supermarket (Mercadona), I have no desire to buy it: I love 'chunky', 'crunchy' and 'nutty' peanut butter, rather than the 'smooth' stuff. This peanut butter also contained a lot of added sugars, additives and palm oil.

No. Thank. You.

So...... I set myself the challenge of creating my own home-made peanut butter!!!

Other than tasting just great, I love the fact that I know exactly what has gone in it..... What's more, I spent 1 euro on 250g peanuts, making my jar of peanut butter a lot cheaper than the 2.79 euro jar sat on Mercadona's shelves! I'll definitely be making it again- I'm already half way down the jar! So, what are you waiting for guys- give it a go!

Ingredients:

250g Raw Peanuts

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon (optional)

2 tbsp greek yoghurt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Water

Directions:

Set your oven to about 180 degrees. Spread your peanuts onto a baking tray, and roast for about 10 minutes until slightly golden.

I didn't worry about pealing my peanuts as the skins give extra fibre, a bit more colour and character to your peanut butter... and it's a slightly fiddly process. However if you would prefer to peal them, now is the time to do it. They should come off relatively easy, especially now they are slightly roasted.

In a food processor, (I used a hand whizzer which is also ok to use! Unfortunately I don't have a food processor out here!) begin to blend your peanuts into a crumb-like consistency. Obviously, the 'chunkier' you want your peanut butter, the less you blend! Add your cinnamon and salt.

Whiz again so it is all mixed. Blend until you have your preferred 'chunkiness' of the peanuts. It should almost be like a nutty flour!!

Add your greek yoghurt and oil, and blend again. The crumbs should start to come together to form your peanut butter. Add little dribbles of water to continue loosening up your peanut paste until you form your desired consistency. You may want to do this in a bowl with a teaspoon to beat it, as the food processor may get a bit sticky and clumpy. If you would like it to be a bit sweeter, add some honey!

Transfer your peanut butter paste into a jar or storage container! Et Voila! You have your home-made peanut butter!