Update: Homemade Peanut Butter, Take 2

In my first post, I discussed my first attempt at making peanut butter at home. Since then, I have been working on the recipe, trying to make it healthier and smoother. I think I have made some improvements on both fronts, and am set on relying solely on homemade peanut butter from now on.

My new-ish and improved recipe is as follows:

15 oz. roasted, unsalted peanuts
~1/2 tsp. salt (no more, but can be slightly less)
1 tbs. honey
1 tbs. grapeseed oil

Add the peanuts to your food processor in small batches, making sure that all of the peanuts are broken down and beginning to clump together before adding the next batch. Once all of the peanuts are in the machine, run the food processor for a few minutes, until the natural peanut oils have been extracted and the mixture is becoming a paste. Add the salt and honey to the peanuts and blend together for a few minutes, until the mixture resembles a ball of dough. With a spatula, spread the peanut butter out, so it is not clumped in one big ball. While you run the processor again, add the oil and let blend together with the mixture. You will want to stop the machine occasionally to make sure none of the peanut butter is sticking to the underside of the blade. When you think the peanut butter is done, let the machine run for about another minute.

The key seems to be to keep processing the mixture longer than you think you need to. The longer you let the peanuts process, the more natural peanut oil is released, and the less oil you need to add.

I have reduced the amount of honey by 1/2 tbs. and the amount of oil by 1 tbs. This has, of course, greatly helped the calorie content of my peanut butter since many of the calories came from the grapeseed oil.

Since I began making this at home, I have noticed that we are not going through our peanut butter jars by week's end, as we used to do with store-bought peanut butter. I believe this is due to the robustness and increased peanut flavor in my homemade variety. We don't need to use as much on our sandwiches because the consistency is much thicker. Thus, we are now saving money by making the peanut butter at home.