Lavender Honey Cashew Butter

I've been on a lavender and rosemary kick lately...  I HATE the way lavender smells (like the perfumey soaps and candles),  but love to put it in food.  :o)

So, I made a Sunflower Butter with a touch of honey and really liked it, so I figured I'd try a spin on it by making my own lavender infused honey, and using cashews instead.

Lavender Honey Cashew Butter

• 2 c. raw cashews
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3 T lavender honey

Unless you have lavender honey on hand, you'll need to make that first.  :o)

I used my "double boiler" set up and heated about 1/2 cup of honey in the smaller pot, over medium heat.

I added, oh, 1-2 T of lavender.  Originally, I was going to steep it like tea, but some of the buds were escaping so I just decided I'd strain it at the end.

I let this simmer and do it's thing for about 45min - 1 hour.  Just enough to get a hint of lavender taste.  Strain the lavender buds out of your honey, and put the honey aside.

So, now for the nut butter making!

Take the raw cashews and mix with the honey so that the cashews are nicely coated.

Spread out on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Bake @ 325*F for 10-15 minutes.  You'll want them to be nice and golden.

Let cool for 3-5 minutes, then into the food processor they go!

Push the on button, and walk away.  Or clean up if you feel so inclined ;o)

So nice and smooooooooooooooooooooth!

Yum!  I've been enjoying mine in oatmeal lately, and am ALMOST out!  :o(   (I made it nearly a month ago, and am just now getting around to posting the recipe... oops!)

By the Spoonful

In preparation for Sarah & Nathania's "Favorites" party, I decided to try a new recipe that would combine a few of my favorite things:

Maple Syrup - Almond Butter - Cinnamon - Mason Jars

So, without further adieu, I bring you...

Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter 
**I adapted the nut butter recipe from Edible Perspective.
Ingredients:

• 2c whole almonds
• 5 T real maple syrup
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pure vanilla extract

And here's the how to!

Preheat your oven to 325*F

Measure out your almonds...

and your maple syrup...

and mix them together.  Spread out the almonds on parchment paper (or on a Silpat if you're lucky enough to have one!).  Stick them in the oven for some roasting time.

Bake for about 15 minutes, stirring a couple times through the process.  Once these are out of the oven, I'd recommend using a spatula to scrape the nuts and candy maple from the pan while they're hot.  Let these cool for a couple minutes (3-5 minutes should work).

Put the nuts in the food processor and let them do their thing.  I have an 11 cup processor, and was processing 5 cups of nuts at a time, and I think that was about the max my processor could handle.  Just a FYI to not get overzealous with doubling (or quadrupling!) recipes.  :o)  Let it go for about 15 minutes, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl as it goes.  It may not seem like much is happening but...

The oils from the nuts will get released and start to take on that wonderful spread quality.  Let the nuts process for at least 15 minutes, and if they still aren't as smooth as you'd like, then go ahead and drizzle in some nut oil (such as peanut oil, walnut oil, etc.) to get the consistency you'd like.  

When you're just about to the desired consistency, add in your cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.  I also added an additional splash of maple syrup, just to make it extra maple-y.

 Make sure all the ingredients are mixed together nicely, then voila!  I may or may not have had an extremely difficult time not eating this by the spoonful jar...  Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious if I do say so myself!

 An additional plus is that your kitchen will smell wonderful from roasting the almonds in maple syrup.  :o)

I found the "fancy" mason jars at Lowe's (cheapest place I could find them, which REALLY surprised me!).

So here it is, Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter, packaged and ready to go to the party!

I have LOTS of ideas for other nut butters...  I have a feeling that I'm going to go through this almond butter pretty quickly, so I'm sure I'll be back in the kitchen hanging out with my food processor trying out some new recipes in no time! :o)

I've Got Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I love that song, but it was painful writing "I've got"... 

So, it's been a cloudy weekend for the most part...  In fact, Rudder and I were snowed, hailed, and rained on in a matter of 5 minutes on our walk today.

The sun did make an appearance at the end of the day though!  :o)

On Saturday I decided to bring some sun into my life.

I  -  made  -  sunbutter!

I had seen this sunbutter stuff on other blogs as a substitute for peanut or almond butter.  I love peanut and almond butter though, so why in the world would I want to substitute it???

Well, I found myself in the bulk food aisle of Fred Meyer's and saw that hulled sunflower seeds weren't too pricey, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.

I went for the roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds, and bought about 3 cups.

Stuck them in the trusty ol' food processor and let them go for about 10 minutes.

After about 10 minutes, you have a mushy, but not quite smooth mix.  Ya want to make sure you give it enough time to release the oils into the mix before you add anything else.

 

Then you can start adding stuff.  I added a bit of honey (maybe 1/8 cup?) to have a touch of sweetness and about 1/2 t of walnut oil to make it a bit smoother.  Also, a couple twists of the sea salt grinder.

 See!  Nice and smooooooooooooooooth!  I didn't add much oil because I'm a fan of the really thick, non-oily stuff you find at the bottom of the jar.  :o)

Stick it in a jar, then stick it in the fridge (of course AFTER you've eaten a spoonful, or two!)

Tastes delicious on sunflower millet bread!

Even better though when you add some rhubarb compote (of sorts)!

Rhubarb "compote" you ask?  Mmmmm let me share with you the recipe that is the delicious rhubarb "compote" (it's not exactly a compote, nor is it a syrup, or a jam...  it is however, delicious!)
 

Rhubarb Deliciousness:

• 4-5 stalks of rhubarb
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/8 t. ground clove

Slice the rhubarb.  Combine rhubarb and water over medium-high heat, bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add the rest of the ingredients and heat for approximately 20 minutes over medium-low to low heat.
 

Had to add a picture of the tulips.  They're looking more awesome by the day, and I am really loving having the fresh flowers in the kitchen.  :o)