Category Archives: Nuts

Recipe: Peanut Butter, Revisited

Makes 1 pound peanut butter

Ingredients

1 pound dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the peanuts in a shallow layer on a tray in the middle of the oven. Roast for 15-16 minutes, stirring every 5 or 6 minutes. The peanuts are ready when they have turned a darker shade of brown and have a glossy appearance. Meanwhile, set up a food processor with a chopping blade.

For smooth peanut butter: Transfer the peanuts into the work bowl of the food processor (first photo from the left). Pulse the nuts until smooth and whipped, about 4 to 6 minutes, using a spatula or wooden spoon to push the peanuts down a couple of times. The peanut butter will gather itself into a rough ball and roll around on top of the food processor blades after about 3 or 4 minutes (second photo). Push the paste down and keep processing the peanut butter until it no longer holds together, another minute or two (third photo). Transfer to a glass jar and store at room temperature.

For chunky peanut butter: Measure out ¾ pound peanuts, reserving the remainder. Follow the directions for making smooth peanut butter. Once smooth and whipped, add remaining peanuts to the work bowl, and pulse until the peanuts are chopped and incorporated into the rest of the peanut butter (fourth photo). This should take about 30 or 45 seconds. Transfer to a glass jar and store at room temperature.

Recipe: Peanut Butter

Ingredients

1 pound dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts
salt (optional)
honey or sugar (optional)
oil (optional)

Preparation

For smooth peanut butter: Place the peanuts in the work bowl of a food processor. If desired, add salt, honey or sugar, and/or oil to taste. Pulse the nuts until smooth and viscous, about 5 minutes. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to push down the peanuts two or three times. When the peanut butter is ready, it gathers itself into a rough rough ball and rolls around on top of the food processor blades. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if using. Transfer to a glass jar and store at room temperature.

For chunky peanut butter: Place ¾ pound peanuts in the work bowl of a food processor. If desired, add salt, honey or sugar, and/or oil to taste. Pulse the nuts until smooth and viscous, about 5 minutes. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to push down the peanuts two or three times. Continue pulsing until the peanut butter gathers itself into a rough rough ball and rolls around on top of the food processor blades. Push down and spread out the peanut butter ball at the bottom of the work bowl, sprinkle in the remaining ¼ pound peanuts, and pulse until the peanuts are chopped and incorporated into the rest of the peanut butter, another minute or two. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if using. Transfer to a glass jar and store at room temperature.

Hola, Granola!

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Score one in my column. For years, my family insisted on eating bagels most weekday mornings. In terms of nutrition, bagels are more or less Jewish Wonder Bread: tasty but empty calories. There just aren’t a whole lot of health benefits in poppy seeds and sesame seeds. But they rejected other, healthier choices, like whole wheat toast and whole wheat bagels. The price of bagels has steadily increased over the years, and because I buy them by the dozen, that’s almost $10 a week! I’m cringing even as I type this…. I feel like I’m channeling my mother complaining, “Ah-ya! I remember when bagels were 4 for a $1!” But it’s not just about the cost, Ma, really! There just had to be a better way.

This is where granola takes the stage (skip the chit chat, and go straight to the recipe). I resisted making granola for years. We all love it, but I don’t usually buy it at the grocery store, because it doesn’t feel like a great value. After all, granola essentially is oatmeal minus water, but making it felt like too much work. Not that I actually knew how much work it would be since I’d never made it. Well, I must have had 10 free minutes on my hands in February, because I finally rolled up my sleeves and did it! I had all the ingredients on hand. It turned out to be easy and delicious! And everyone ate it the way people eat Cracker Jacks. I’ve made a handful of batches since then, refining the original recipe to get the perfect balance of toasty nuttiness and sweetness. The DH has switched to eating my homemade granola with milk on weekday mornings, and the DD and DS make homemade yogurt parfaits with the granola, fruit, and plain yogurt. We all eat it straight up or with milk as a snack, too.

What was my mental block against making granola about? Maybe it was an unconscious resistance to shedding another token of my New York City girlhood. I know, there are lots of “iconic” New York foods—it’s a big city—but bagels are it for me. In its place, insert granola, a (tie)dyed-and-true Northern California hippie emblem. Heck, I’ve only been living here for 20+ years. Probably not, but don’t you love the symbolism of it?

OK. Crazy Foodie time: does making my own granola actually save money? I did a bit of calculating to find out. There are about 8 ½-cup servings in one pound of granola; that’s $5.79 for 4 cups. My granola cost $8.65 for 7 cups—see my calculations below (the only ingredient I didn’t include in the cost analysis is salt)—or $4.94 for 4 cups, which is 17% less than the store-bought stuff. Of course, that doesn’t include cost for energy, water and detergent, or my labor. [Update: this cost analysis was based on an earlier version of my recipe. I've since substituted brown sugar for the honey, and I now add fewer nuts and dried fruits, which should bring the cost for ingredients down.] When it’s all said and done, it’s not a huge cost savings, but now that I know how easy it is to make, I’m going to keep making my granola anyway (and the kids are helping out, too!)—it just tastes better when it’s homemade.

Recipe: Granola

Makes about 10 cups

Ingredients

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup steel cut oats
1½ cup raw wheat germ
⅜ cup flax seeds
1¾ cups chopped raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, or pecans)
½ cup brown sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ cup canola oil
1½ tablespoon vanilla extract
1½ cups mixed dried fruit (cranberries and raisins)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F with the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Line 2 roasting pans with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the first 7 ingredients (all the dry ingredients except the dried fruit). Stir well to combine. Add the oil and vanilla, and stir again. Spread the granola evenly onto the roasting pans.

Bake the granola for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes and switching the position of the pans each time. The granola is done when it is golden brown and fragrant. Mix in the dried fruit as soon as the granola comes out of the oven, then allow the granola to cool completely in the roasting pan. Store granola in an airtight container. Granola can be frozen.