Lately, it seems as though I've seen nut butters popping up everywhere. Almond butter, peanut butter, and every type of variation in between. Of course, I get that itch to try it out. And why not? It's no secret I'm a peanut butter-holic, although it's not my favorite nut. No, that title is a toss up between cashews and pistachios. If peanut butter is so good, what if I made a nut butter out of my favorite nut? It would have to be awesome, right? The nut butter-making process seemed simple enough: 1) Choose your nuts (unsalted and not roasted); 2) Blanch and roast nuts (if desired); and 3) Toss nuts in food processor and let 'er go. I should know better by now. Things that seem so simple I tend to make much more difficult. This was more my process:
1) Purchase nuts. The wrong ones (i.e. salted and roasted).
2) Pick some of the most difficult nuts to work with. Spend 30+ minutes and two sore fingers later shelling pistachios.
3) Blanch pistachios.
4) Rub pistachios with towel, then go through and de-skin each one.
5) Skip the roasting part since they've already been roasted once.
6) Put in food processor and turn on. Let go for 5 minutes, 10 minutes... give the food processor a break as it's getting kind of hot. Still lumpy.
7) Keep processing nuts on and off for another 10 minutes. Still lumpy. Give up for the day.
8) Put nuts in blender and attempt to process nuts that way for about 5-10 minutes. Better, but still not silky smooth butter.
9) Add a bit of oil. Doesn't really work.
10) Add more oil. Still doesn't really work.
11) Get the bright idea that white chocolate would help smooth it out and taste good. Taste good, yes, help smooth it out, only a bit.
12) Give up and eat it anyways.
Don't be jealous now, it takes massive skills to add all those additional steps to what was supposed to be a three-step process -- and still get lumpy nut butter.
Eh, I'm not giving up though. Despite it not being a lusciously smooth butter, I've still got plans for this stuff. Unless my spoon gets to it first.
White Chocolate Pistachio Butter
Original Recipe
Original Recipe
2 cups shelled Pistachios, unsalted & non-roasted
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 ounces white chocolate, melted
Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil over high heat. Add the shelled pistachios and boil for 2 minutes. Drain.
Pour the pistachios out onto a towel, and rub back and forth (to help loosen skins). Peel the remaining skins off each nut.
Transfer pistachios to a food processor, and process for 10 minutes. Add oil if necessary then process for an additional 5 minutes.
Pour the white chocolate into the food processor and process until fully incorporated and the butter is as smooth as possible.
Store in the refrigerator.
Makes: 1 1/2 cups nut butter (serving size: 2 tablespoons)
Even though I ended up with lumpy butter (after much more than 15 minutes of processing), the flavor of this nut butter was delicious. White chocolate and pistachios play oh-so-nice together. I really wish this had turned out how I wanted, but, it's a learning process I guess. Now I just want to move on to the next kind. That's right, I'm looking at you lonely jar of peanuts sitting on the counter...
| Nutrition Facts | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories 90 | Calories from fat 61 |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 6.8g | 11% |
| Saturated Fat 1.5g | 8% |
| Trans Fat 0.0g | |
| Cholesterol 1mg | 0% |
| Sodium 4mg | 0% |
| Total Carbs 5.8g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 1.1g | 4% |
| Sugars 3.6g | |
| Protein 2.5g | |
| Vitamin A 1% | Vitamin C 1% |
| Calcium 2% | Iron 3% |
Yum...I like the white chocolate part as well! Send some over!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness! This must be amazing. I would eat the whole thing before spreading it on any thing...like your gorgeous Irish soda bread!
ReplyDeleteSo do you have any tricks planned for next time to help with making the butter more smooth?
ReplyDeletePistachio's and anything is ok in my book. I make a pistachio gelato that's as lumpy as wet cement...but oh is it good. This looks and sounds amazing too.
ReplyDeleteLumps are so not a concern for me, and oh my, this sounds amazing. Definitely worth the difficult shelling process for sure!
ReplyDeleteOh I bet this is good, great idea adding the white chocolate. Nice combination of flavors, yummy!
ReplyDeleteYum! Love this idea. Pistachios and white chocolate seem like a great combo.
ReplyDelete@two-tarts.com I think next time they either need to be dried/roasted, or skip the blanching step (it's really just to have a greener color anyways). I think my pistachios just a bit too damp going into the food processor.
ReplyDeleteIm rather curious about this nut butter. I just was given a sample of pistachios and either Ive never had them before or my tastes have changed but Im not loving them. This may be something interested to make with it to see if it changes my opinions on them.
ReplyDeleteI love the flavors! My sister spends a hefty sum on flavored nut butters from whole foods... I am going to pass this recipe on to her so she can make her own! :)
ReplyDeleteAhahah, I liked the step by step process...Every time I see a homemade peanut butter recipe I asked myself how is that possible...What kind of blender you need to have to make such a perfect and smooth cream? mine can't do a smooth pesto... ^_^
ReplyDeleteMaybe there a secret of two hours of blending behind those recipes... ^_^
It is so funny that I'm just now reading this because Joe and I were literally just talking about why you never see pistachio butter (and how we should make some) last night. Crazy!
ReplyDelete