Hemp Butter

I made some homemade hemp butter this week.

I used the little container that comes with my immersion blender and just blended the hemp seeds in that.  I've used the same process to make nut butters.  After a while, it didn't seem to be creaming into butter, so I added just a few cashews and that got it all going.

I like it.  It's not too grassy in taste.  I say that because I tried making hemp milk the other week and it just tasted really green and grassy. I didn't like it at all. But the butter is quite tasty and a good texture.

So - its a simple recipe - bunch of hemp seeds. Whizz and if it doesn't cream, add just a few cashew nuts!

Hemp seeds are a great source of both omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in a perfect ratio.

Making hazelnut butter

I've mentioned before on this blog about how I love hazelnuts and as I was looking at some recipes, I came across one for hazelnut ice cream.  One of the ingredients was hazelnut butter, but I've never seen that in the stores.

So a quick rummage through my fridge led me to a small handful of hazelnuts.  There were probably only about 20 or so left, but they were tasty.  I thought I'd give them a whizz and make my own hazelnut butter - not enough for ice cream, but just a test to see how it would work.

I used my immersion blender fixed onto it's dry food grinder.   The dry food grinder makes it really into a tiny food processor.

It blended those hazelnuts brilliantly - and quickly!  Yes, no other ingredients - just handful of hazelnuts and switch on the machine.  Yummy, creamy hazelnut butter in about a minute...now I just need to buy more hazelnuts and make some more and then make the ice cream!

I wonder what nut butter I should try next.... I've done almond, cashew and now hazelnut...maybe some green pistachio for St Patricks Day????  What is your favorite nut butter?

(PS I HATE peanut butter! Ugh, even the smell is ghastly!)