Cacao peanut butter spread? Yes please! A jar is always present for simple sandwiches, no bake power bites or your favorite baking treats. This cacao peanut butter spread is creamy, no stir, made with only 3 ingredients and comes together in no time.
We’ve been making peanut butter at home for a while now and decided to add a little twist to our usual. The addition of cacao powder, balanced by the sweetness from raw honey.
PEANUTS TO USE
Roasting peanuts at home is something we’ve always enjoyed. The entire process of buying raw peanuts, roasting, peeling and blending for spreads and soups is almost therapeutic. It brings back so many childhood memories. We did this for the recipe but by no means do you have to do the same. With my girls we end up with probably a cup less than what we started with because they can’t stop eating them.
You want to buy peanuts with no salt added, that way you have control over everything. The balance of salty and sweet .
You can also use other nuts. Think Almonds, Walnuts, Cashews and which ever you prefer.
BLENDING THE PEANUTS
We recommend using a food processor a high power blender. There are three phases you’ll go through. The coarse, the large chunk and the creamy delight. It is very tempting to stop at the second stage; wondering what in the world to do with the large chunk of grainy peanuts. Do not add any liquid or oil to ease blending, let it do its thing. After a short while, you’ll notice the chunk loosening up. Let it go until it is almost runny. The natural oils from the peanuts are helping out. That is why we always question why some brands add palm oil to their peanut butter?
Once it is well blended, add your cacao powder. Cacao unlike Cocoa powder is a little more bitter. Bringing in some raw honey really helps balance the taste resulting to this creamy, lightly sweetened delight. So think about the bitterness when deciding on how much cacao powder to add. The more you add, the more honey you’ll need.
QUICK NOTE ON CACAO VS COCOA POWDER
Yes,to they both having chocolate but cocoa powder is more processed than cacao power. It usually has sugar added to sweeten it up unlike its less processed cousin cacao. Cacao powder does retain most of its nutritional value compared to cocoa powder.
We sure do hope you enjoy making a batch of this cacao peanut butter spread for your in home use. And since it’s the season for gifting, maybe make a little more for someone special. They certainly will love it
Cacao Peanut Butter Spread
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 3 & 1/2 cups unsalted roasted peanuts
- 2 Tbsp cacao powder ( NOT COCOA POWDER)
- 2-4 Tbsp raw honey
- a pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
- Blend peanuts in food processor until creamy to the point of being a little runny. This will take about 10 minutes. It will go from coarse to a large chunk. Keep blending and the chunk will start loosening as the oils are released.3 & 1/2 cups unsalted roasted peanuts
- Then add in cacao powder and honey and salt. Continue to blend until well incorporated. Things will look a little dry once the cacao powder and honey are added. Blend for another 5-7 minutes until it thins out2 Tbsp cacao powder, 2-4 Tbsp raw honey, a pinch of kosher salt
- Remove and store in an airtight container.
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