Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day

Happy National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day! To celebrate, we’ve compiled 11 of our favorite recipes. From massive peanut butter cookies to cream pie and peanut dipping sauce.

VIDEO: How to make homemade nut butters

Oh, and would you like to know how to make homemade peanut butter? It’s easy. Check out the video above and read the steps below for tips.

Enjoy!

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Homemade nut butters

Nut butters -- peanut, almond, cashew, etc. -- are terribly simple to make. Grind nuts until they release their oils and are reduced to a smooth paste. And voila! You’ve got nut butter.

All you need are nuts and a little flavoring or seasoning. You can add some sugar if you want to sweeten, or perhaps a touch of honey or maple syrup, but that’s it. Don’t worry about adding oil -- nuts naturally have a high oil content, and will release enough oil for the butter themselves with enough time and patience.

Here’s how you do it: Toast the nuts in a 350- to 375-degree oven until they’re fragrant and slightly darkened. Toasting the nuts will give them a richer, deeper flavor. Cool the nuts slightly, then place the warm nuts in a food processor and start grinding. Process the nuts until they are ground to coarse meal, then continue until you finally get a smooth paste. Scrape down the bowl periodically.

As you process, the meal will first clump together as the nuts’ oils are released, finally smoothing out after a couple minutes. That’s your nut butter. Taste the butter and season, or flavor, as desired, processing everything together.