Maple Coconut Peanut Butter

I don’t know if y’all have noticed, but my beloved food processor has been sadly neglected as of late.In fact, if you zoomed out from this photo, you’d see that he had actually been moved off of the table where I was using him nearly every day, to a side shelf where he was getting little to no action.*
*Like his owner, this food processor has no game when it comes to the opposite sex.^
^Thoughts on what the “opposite sex” is for a food processor?But never fear, today you get to witness the joys of food processing yet again…and this recipe just might change your (nut butter lovin’) life.One of the easy things–we’ll get to the difficulties later–about my efforts to be vegan this month is that a lot of my staple foods and recipes already fit the “vegan profile,” including the nut butters that fill up my pantry shelves.*
*Except the honey peanut butter of course. And the Nutella.If you saw the care package that I mailed to Kayla last month as part of the Blogger Pen Pal Exchange, then you’ve already had a peak at the joyfulness that is about to astound your tastebuds. If you can get past the (conveniently also vegan) Spiced Orange Cranberry Almond Coc-Os, you’ll discover something (even more) incredible.Why yes…that DOES say Maple Coconut Peanut Butter.I don’t know where this combination obsession came from, but I think it has something to do with me mixing a whole bunch of random items in my morning cereal bowls, and discovering that peanut and/or coconut butter paired with maple-or-peanut flavored yogurt and/or cereal seemed to taste rather delicious. And thus…a star was born!*
*This one does not star Judy Garland.
First, I whipped up a batch of homemade coconut butter…the poor (wo)man’s version of Artisana. [Cheaper IS better!]
Once it’s good and drippable, clean out the bowl.
[Make sure you store at least 1/3-1/2 cup in a jar or separate container. The rest can go straight into your mouth.]
No need to clean the food processor. It’s kind of the way people who love to mix all their food together defend their practices to those who have to eat everything separately: it all ends up in the same place in the end.
Pour in about three cups of roasted, unsalted peanuts, and turn on your processor!
Marvel at the strange shapes it takes during the 15 (or so) minutes of processing that will have to occur (while you maintain extreme patience!)…
….in order to obtain the creamiest peanut butter you’ve ever seen. [No added oil required.]

Can we just pause and savor that one more time?

It’s probably a good idea to taste this once (or twice). You wouldn’t want to feed anyone anything contaminated.Once you are assured of it’s safety, scoop in 1/3 cup of coconut butter.Process, and then take out the curer of all evil (or at least boring flavor profiles)…maple extract.Add about a teaspoon of that, and continue to process and blend.Taste and test and add more maple, coconut butter, or salt to your liking. Then, try to get as much out of the food processor and into an awaiting jar as possible.But again, if there are (quite) a few detours by your mouth on the way, I won’t judge (or blame) you.

Maple Coconut Peanut Butter

3 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/3-1/2 cup Homemade Coconut Butter
1-2 tsp. maple extract
pinch of salt (optional)

1. Put peanuts into food processor bowl. Maintain extreme patience and process until smooth. [This could take 15 minutes, with pauses for scraping the edges.]
2. Add coconut butter, maple extract, and salt (if using) and process, adding more to taste if necessary.
Note: If you do not have coconut butter already made in your pantry, make that first, then remove the coconut butter from the food processor. Continue with the recipe, adding the coconut butter back into the mix after making the peanut butter.