Toasted Hazelnut Butter..

For some reason the other day, while still sick I got to thinking Oh My God I want to make home made nut butters!! I have tons of nuts in the freezer I should! I went looking around and realized all it took was a food processor and nuts. Oil if you need to thin a bit and seasonings if you want to change up the flavor. How simple is that!!

So this morning, ok more noon cause I slept late and had a nice hour long phone call and then let my hazelnuts come to room temp after the freezer I started my toasting. I will say so far my first complaint would be the skins!! I have about 4 bags of hazelnuts in the freezer of course skins on. I read you can toast them and put them in a towel and rub and they come right off!! Uhm.. I am not having that easy of a time.. I pick out the few I can get and back in the oven. I am watching patiently in hopes to NOT burn them cause Ewww to burnt hazelnut butter!!! I have about a cup left out of the 2 cups that are fighting me and I just may say screw it and leave on what is left! If anyone has better suggestions let me know!! Otherwise People look for raw unskinned and shelled nuts haha!

After an hour I finally just put the last oh 15 or so nuts with whatever skin they had on in it and the food processor is running!!!

So as it runs I stop and scrape down the paste and let it buzz again. I realize yup pretty thick and think ok lets start with vanilla cause I love vanilla and it can't hurt it right! so I drizzle a little in and let it keep buzzing. Still pretty thick so remembering all my various readings I drizzle in some olive oil a little at a time and just go on until it looks like what I want. I did add a pinch of cinnamon and a couple pinches of kosher salt ( the only salt other than sea that I will use!) and give it a taste. Wow intensely hazelnut!! Good but maybe too intense for me?

My favorite way to eat peanut butter is on a toasted whole wheat muffin with banana a honey. So I put the Hazelnut butter to the test that way, really the reason I made it was to have it that way and to try to make nut butter haha. So I did and it is not bad at all!! I may still like the peanut butter better but I am so glad I tried to make this, I will definitely make other kinds just to see how they taste and I will enjoy this one :).