Still Missing Your Peanut Butter? Try Making It At Home

As you loyal readers know, Kate and I are pretty obsessed with peanut butter. We love the stuff! For the last year or so--pretty much since I started to make my own bread--I've been buying made-in-the-store peanut butter from my local super market. Last week when I stopped in for some groceries, the made-in-the-store PB had disappeared from its usual spot. "Where is it???" I gasped to the nearest employee. "Oh," he said. "The machine's broken." Then a few minutes later he found me in a different aisle, "I checked with my boss--it's because of the peanut butter recall."

Well, that doesn't really make sense considering the recall is on products that were made with PB from the contaminated plant--not homemade stuff. But whatever the case, I needed it for some Spicy African Peanut soup I'd planned for dinner, plus my slices of toast I'd be eating for breakfast the rest of the week. So, I bought a big tub of the branded, pre-packaged stuff and helped myself to a spoonful later that night. WOW. Big difference. We'd gotten so accustomed to the plain old pressed nuts–version over the last year that the store-bought kind tasted super sugary, sweet and smooth--like eating a dessert, as my husband so accurately phrased it. We've still got a bunch to go through, but as soon as its gone I've resolved to make my own PB--so the next time the store's machine breaks or there's another recall or whatever the case may be, I can still get my fix. I Googled around and discovered whipping up my own homemade version should be a cinch (see below). Photo grabbed from koocbor at flickr. Posted by Liz

Homemade PB

• 1 cup roasted peanuts
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oil (peanut oil preferred)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a blender or a food processor.

Blend until mixture is spreadable. (Add honey if you like yours sugary.)

You may need to stop blending and scrape the sides occasionally.

Store the mix in the refrigerator.

If the oil and peanut butter separate, stir before serving.