Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

A little while ago I tried my hand at making Pistachio Butter and had a pretty epic fail. Well, the flavors were there, but the smoothness and consistency one expects from a nut butter was nowhere to be found. Ever since then I've been itching to make a nut butter again. I figured out that I didn't dry the nuts properly between the blanching and processing stages, giving me clumpy unappetizing "butter". So I decided to altogether skip blanching and go straight into processing.

Lucky for me (or so I thought), peanuts just happened to be on sale that week -- a 10 ounce bag for $1. Note that these were unshelled guys. By the time I had cracked a cereal bowl full of shells, I barely even had 1/2 a cup of nuts. Frustrating and time consuming. And the hubby kept walking by and eating the shelled ones. Not cool. So in my impatient ways while at the grocery store, I decided to give in and buy jarred peanuts, ready to go. The slight slight price difference was definitely worth my time.

Once shelling and blanching are no longer factors, it literally takes under 10 minutes to make your own peanut butter. Not too shabby. Especially when the food processor is doing all the work. I opted to add in some chocolate because, well, that's how I roll. Chocolate + peanut butter = one of the best flavor combinations out there, I just couldn't resist.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

Original Recipe

16 ounces lightly salted peanuts
2 tablespoons oil (peanut, canola, vegetable)
4 ounces dark chocolate chips, melted

Pour peanuts into a food processor. Process nuts 5-7 minutes, adding oil 1/2 tablespoon at a time until smooth (more or less oil may be needed). Add melted chocolate and process until fully incorporated.

Yields: 1 pint (serving size: 2 tablespoons)

I ended up adding just a bit too much oil (I added upwards of 3 tablespoons) so my end result was a bit on the runny side. Still super tasty though. Next time I might add in more chocolate as the peanut butter is upfront and prominent, with just a hint of chocolate.

I think I have now entered the never-ending loop of wanting to keep trying to make nut butters. I am really wanting to go back and try pistachio butter again, this time without the blanching. I just have to talk my poor little fingers into shelling those things again.

I almost forgot! Denise from We Like to Cook has bestowed me with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award!

I love the simple yet tasty looking dishes that Denise and Dom share, so make sure you head over to their blog and check them out! Accepting this award involves me sharing 7 things you might not know about me, and then passing the award along to 15 other bloggers. As I just shared 7 things with you just about a month ago, I will direct you to that list if you're just dying to know something about me. ;) As for the 15 bloggers to pass this along to:

Kate from Diethood
Susi from Susi's Kochen und Backen Adventures
Katrina from In Katrina's Kitchen
Bobbi from Fresh and Foodie
Hester from ¡Comida es mi vida y mi vida es comida!
Sarah from Baking Serendipity
Amy from Amy's Cooking Adventures
Leanna from Raptor Toe
Lauren & Chrissy from From the Little Yellow Kitchen
Whitney from Amuse Bouche
Lindsey from Hot Polka Dot
Amber from Sprinkled with Flour
Victoria from So This Brunette Walks into a Kitchen
Lynn from I'll Have What She's Having
Zoe from Runny Yolks are Better

Enjoy ladies!

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 210	Calories from fat 160
% Daily Value
Total Fat 17.8g	27%
Saturated Fat 3.4g	17%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 96mg	4%
Total Carbs 9.8g	3%
Dietary Fiber 2.0g	8%
Sugars 4.8g
Protein 7.6g
Vitamin A 0%	Vitamin C 6%
Calcium 4%	Iron 19%

White Chocolate Pistachio Butter

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

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%