Peanut Butter

Peanut Butter

When in Rome....as the saying goes

I have found this to be quite true of my eating patterns...while I was in US, was quite enamoured of their crackers ( as they call it ) ...here we call it biscuit...and now some have started calling their products cookies( ? ) ...anyhow...

So some of my favourites were Oreos, Graham crackers ( Nabisco's )...and the very light with a delicate salty flavour Club crackers in it's original form...and it's varieties, honey flavoured, and puffed etc...and also Wheat thins ( with it's varieties )....every trip to the grocery store would see me stocking up on them...so as to have them as my tea time snack...
But when we settled back here in India...all of those favourites were replaced by those available here...one of my current favourites is the toast made by Britannia, and biscuits like Hide-n-seek, Bourbon ....

Coming back to old favourites...the reason why I meandered into the crackers lane...was cause I saw a recipe for making peanut butter and felt a wave of nostalgia come over me...this was something else that I used to relish with the above mentioned crackers or bread ( ... do not have it here though it is now readily available )

Anyways decided to make it at home, checked out a few different recipes...and got 'cracking' on it :-) ....ok so not that funny...never mind...




Here's what you need

Ingredients:

2 cups pre-roasted and shelled peanuts
1-2 tblsps of peanut or vegetable oil
a pinch of salt
2 tsps of sugar ( white granulated / brown / or even honey )

Method:

1) If the peanuts are not roasted then roast them either in a pan or in an oven till evenly light brown - do not allow them to burn ( or make it too dark - this changes the color and taste of the peanut butter )...so keep stirring them continuously. Shell the peanuts and let them cool.
2) If peanuts are already pre-roasted and shelled then omit step 1 and put the above peanuts in a grinder along with the sugar, salt, and 1 tblspn of oil and crush...till it comes together in a paste form.
3) Add some more oil if required so as to achieve that consistency - but not too much other wise the butter will get too thin, taste it, and you could add some more sugar or salt if required...some like it more sweet.
An easier way is to stream in the oil while grinding till you get the consistency you are looking for.

Tip : If you like your peanut butter crunchy - then you could roughly crush some more roasted peanuts and add to the above mixture.
I like to add a pinch of freshly crushed pepper...it balances out the sweetness a bit...but this is totally optional.

Store in an airtight container - it should be refrigerated for longer usage.
Breakfast and tea time will not be same anymore...can be had with crackers, toast or plain bread, chapatis...
Enjoy !!!

I used to be tempted to eat the peanut butter by itself...taking some in a spoon and licking away...did this only when no one was around ...did not want anyone to know how like a kid I was...well guess that secret is out now...anyways this time around I restrained myself and waited till tea time and had it with a piece of toast...was yummmmmmmmy....so try it out and hope you find yourself licking the spoon ( or butter knife ) too.