Reduced Fat Natural Peanut Butter

I was chatting with my friend Laloofah about a month ago and she mentioned a technique she learned at McDougall that involved reducing the fat in natural peanut butter. Needless to say I was all ears when she mentioned this. The technique involved pouring the fat off the top of the jar of nut butter. Then placing the remaining thick nut butter in your food processor and adding water and processing until the nut butter becomes creamy again.

The 28 ounce jar of peanut butter I purchased contained 7 tablespoons of oil floating on the top (yes I measured it, no OCD here). I started by adding 7 tablespoons of water to the food processor. The nut butter was still like sludge and was not as creamy as I wanted it. I continued to add water until I had added about a cup of water total. The nut butter did finally get nice and creamy. The only difference was that the nut butter was lighter color, probably due to the air that was whipped into the nut. Also, the nut butter was now more voluminous and would not fit back in the jar. I had started with 24 servings and ended up with 28 due to adding more water.

What did this do to the nutritional numbers? This is where the magic happened. The nut butter started at 200 calories for 2 tablespoons and ended at 140 for the same 2 tablespoons. Can you believe how much of a difference this made? I was stunned when I ran the numbers.

I immediately had my husband taste the reduced fat nut butter to see what he thought. His reaction, “It tastes like peanut butter should, rich and flavorful but not fatty.” Score! Can you tell I am excited about this technique? This will definitely be happening at my house from now on. Now I just need to add the nutrition stats into my cookbook program.

Thank you Laloofah for sharing this technique on how to reduce the fat in our natural butter. I know there are many people that will be using this now that they know about it. I can safely say this would not have occurred to me without you. Thanks again!

Cinnamon Walnut and Brazil Nut Butter made with Stevia

This past weekend my hubby asked me to make his favorite walnut butter with stevia instead of agave to see how it would work. I made this yesterday but then got one of my twice a year migraines and wasn’t feeling up to posting the recipe or doing anything really. However, I am feeling noticeably better now and have a few recipes to try to write and post this evening.

Regarding this modified nut butter, both the hubby and I think the flavor changes little with the substitution of stevia for agave. Given the obvious advantage of the substitution in terms of nutrition, stevia will now be the sweetener of choice in our nut butter.

As usual I included Brazil nuts in this nut butter to increase our selenium intake for its cancer preventative properties. I did reduce the Brazil nuts a little since I thought my husband was consuming so much nut butter that he was reaching the upper limit in terms of selenium intake. For more information of on selenium see this post.

I find that the more I make this nut butter the more I like it. It is quick to make and I love spreading a little on apple wedges as an afternoon snack. If this nut butter were just for me I would probably add more cinnamon, since I love the flavor more than my hubby. Making this a couple of times a week I now sometimes add a little freshly grated nutmeg or a pinch of allspice to change the flavor a little. Here is what I made this time.

Cinnamon Walnut and Brazil Nut Butter made with Stevia
Makes approximately 1 - 7/8 cups or 30 tablespoons

Ingredients:

3 cups walnuts
12 Brazil nuts
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger, powder
1 pinch kosher salt
1 rounded scoop stevia

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients, except stevia in food processor and puree until completely smooth. You may need to stop the processor once or twice and scrape the sides of the food processor bowl to get the nut butter completely smooth.

Add the stevia a little at a time until it is as sweet as you prefer, I only wanted sweetener to diminish the tannic taste from the walnuts. I used a little more than one scoop that comes in the container (which is approximately 1/8 teaspoon). I think each brand of stevia has a different level of sweetness depending on the purity of the product.

Store the nut butter in the refrigerator in a covered container until needed. If you try to store this at room temperature it will try to separate like natural peanut butter. I find if I refrigerate this right away there is no separation of the nut paste and oil.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 90.06
Calories From Fat (83%) - 74.86

Total Fat - 8.96g
Saturated Fat - 1.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 10.01mg
Potassium - 65.74mg
Total Carbohydrates - 2.01g
Fiber - 1.01g
Sugar - 0.36g
Protein - 2.08g

Comments:

Walnut butter has become like almond milk and kale chips at our house. All of these are things I make a few times a week because we consume them so quickly. Both Dan and I have become walnut butter fiends, eating this stuff everyday for a snack. If you have a food processor it is ready in a minutes.

Each serving of this modified nut butter contains almost 39mcg of selenium, if you are trying to keep track of your intake. Polyunsaturated fats make up the majority of the fat in this recipe at almost 6 grams.

Unrelated note:

I finally made kale chips in the oven and it worked fine. With a little luck I will have those directions posted later this evening.

For now I am off to make myself a quick bite to eat since my sweetie is having dinner downtown tonight since he is still at the office.

Walnut Butter with Brazil Nut, Cinnamon and Ginger

(pictured: apple with walnut butter and berries ... dessert last night)

Yesterday was crazy at our house. I was out of the house from 2 pm until almost 9 pm, which didn’t leave much time for cooking or posting. However, I did manage to do a couple of little things, which I am going to post before I work out, run more errands and go to cooking class.

Yesterday morning I decided I was going to play around with my husband’s favorite nut butter recipe. I was trying to make it healthier with the addition of another nut. Brazil nuts are a fantastic source of selenium. Selenium has been shown to reduce the incidence of cancer in animals and is theorized to have the same impact in humans. Geographic studies show that areas with low levels of soil selenium, and low dietary intake of selenium have higher cancer mortality. There certainly seems to be link between cancer and selenium consumption.

Vegan Sources of Selenium given in mcg per 3 ½ ounces (100grams):

Brazil nuts - 2,960
Puffed Wheat – 123
Sunflower seeds – 78
Whole-Wheat Flour – 71
Garlic - 14

Per the Linus Pauling Institute it is proposed that selenium works to prevent cancer by 1) antioxidant activity 2) improving immune system 3) affecting the metabolism of carcinogens 4) inhibiting tumor cell growth 5) promote apoptosis (cancer cell suicide) 6) influence on DNA repair 7) and as because it is an anti-angiogenic agent. At doses of 200-300mcg per day selenium is thought to have anticarcinogenic effects.

Be careful not to consume too much selenium as it is possible to over do. The tolerable upper limit for selenium is 400mcg per day. Selenium is toxic at 850mcg per day. Symptoms of selenium toxicity include brittle hair and nails, hair loss, skin rashes, bad breath and fatigue. It is estimated that the average American consumes approximately 100mcg for food daily. Adding three Brazil nuts grown in selenium rich soil each day will get you to the tolerable upper limit of 400mcg.

Sorry for the information overload on selenium but since it does have an upper limit I thought I should cover the topic more completely. As always please do you our research and check with your health care provider if you have any questions. Here is the recipe I made today.

Walnut Butter with Brazil Nut, Cinnamon and Ginger
Makes approximately 28 tablespoons

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups walnuts
½ cup Brazil nuts
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon, ground
½ teaspoon ginger, powder
½ tablespoon amber agave

Directions:

Combine everything in your food processor and process until smooth and creamy. I stop the machine a few times and scrape down the sides. Additionally I process the mixture for about 4 minutes in total. It will be a little warm when you are finished. The long processing time seems to make creamier nut butter.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 85.47
Calories From Fat (83%) - 70.93

Total Fat - 8.48g
Saturated Fat - 1.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 12.57mg
Potassium - 64.05mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.94g
Fiber - 0.99g
Sugar 0.34g
Protein - 1.96g

Comments:

This walnut butter is the same as the version I posted here in terms of taste and texture. However, it is healthier so I will continue to make this version.

Each tablespoon of this nut butter contains 48mcg of selenium. Since my husband normally eats 4 tablespoons of this at a time that gets him to the 300 mcg per day which is in the anticarcinogenic zone but not over the upper limit.

My husband had this walnut butter last night on an apple and again this morning with a variation of his apple whole-wheat breakfast wrap and as declared this just as good as his favorite walnut butter. He did have to hear all about the tolerable upper limit of selenium and the possibility of toxicity. If I find that he eats more than ¼ cup of this each day I am going to back down on the amount of Brazil nuts in this recipe to keep his level of selenium well within the safe range. Sometimes it seems as though all I do is monitor nutrition but it is better than suffering the consequences.

I will be back in a little while with another recipe from yesterday.

Walnut Butter with Cinnamon and Nutmeg

After reading about the health benefits of walnuts I began making walnut butter at home to replace our peanut butter. I have tried a few different variations of the nut butters some with pecan, or almond added and this one that was all walnut. My husband likes this particular version and it has become our standard nut butter now. It is lightly spiced with cinnamon. The ginger is added for antioxidants but the flavor doesn’t come through in the final nut butter. We have found that a little agave is necessary to round out the flavor. Without the agave the nut butter is a little too tannic for our tastes. Here is what I did.

Walnut Butter with Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Makes approximately 1 ¾ cups – 28 tablespoon servings

Ingredients:

3 cups walnuts
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon ginger, powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ tablespoon agave

Directions:

Combine everything in your food processor and puree until completely smooth (about 3 – 4 minutes). Stop the processor once or twice to scrape the sides of the processor. Taste the nut butter for seasoning and correct as necessary. Store in a covered container in your refrigerator.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 82.69
Calories From Fat (83%) - 68.41

Total Fat - 8.18g
Saturated Fat - 0.77g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 17.11mg
Potassium - 56.79mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.91g
Fiber - 0.94g
Sugar - 0.34g
Protein - 1.92g

Comments:

With the omega 3 fatty acids in walnuts I think it makes sense to use walnut butter as our nut butter of choice. Both my husband and I have an apple with walnut butter for our afternoon snack most days. Between the apple and the walnut this snack is a cancer one two punch. Both foods are reported to fight cancer, which works for us.

We use this nut butter on apples, bananas, pound cake, toast, as well as sometimes in our smoothies. One of my husband’s favorite uses for walnut butter was when I made chocolate candies with walnut butter inside (like Reese’s but with walnut butter). They were quite good. I have also used it in place of peanut butter in a satay sauce for seitan. The satay recipe will be ready to post soon, so you should see that one sometime this month.

Pecan and Walnut Butter with Cinnamon and Ginger

I am trying to get to the point that the majority of the fat we consume comes from nuts, seeds and avocados with occasional fat from oils. As you all know I spend far too much time reading about health and nutrition and I am beginning to come around to the idea that oil is an inferior form of fat since it is processed and nuts, seeds and avocados are consumed in their natural state. While the Italian in me loves good unfiltered extra virgin olive oil that has now been relegated to the occasional treat at our house.

If you are wondering what difference it makes to consume oil versus nuts I will try to explain it as I understand it. Nuts, seeds and avocado are high in fat, like oils. However, the whole foods also contain fiber and other micronutrients that are removed when the whole food is processed and turned into oil. Also it is easy to pour a couple of tablespoons of fat into a dressing or sauté but it take more work to eat the equivalent in nuts and seeds, making it a more deliberate action.

Regarding oil I only buy organic and cold or expeller pressed varieties. Other forms of oil use chemicals to extract the oils and that is something I don’t want us to consume. It is more expensive but given the amount I use it doesn’t amount to much in terms of our total food budget.

I try to spread our fat consumption over all our meals. Each smoothie I make includes flaxseeds for a dose of healthy omega 3’s first thing in the morning. Since lunch is frequently salad those now have hempseeds, sesame seed or pumpkin seeds included for a mid day dose of omega 3’s and I have been trying to dress most of our salads with only vinegar or lemon juice. Much to my surprise it works fine. Our afternoon snack is normally an apple or banana with nut butter. At dinnertime there is usually one dish with a nut or seed garnish. I don’t add a lot of nuts or seeds to our meals, just a teaspoon or so because I don’t want us to get too much fat. I also realize that I have to include some fat so our bodies can process the fat-soluble vitamins most effectively.

When we initially tried to follow the “Eat to Live” plan I have to admit it was a very difficult adjustment at first. But I think that was because we went from omnivore to low fat vegan literally overnight. It was tough to change everything that we were used to at one time. Since we have eased back into the "Eat to Live" plan from a fairly healthy diet it has been much easier this time.

Today’s nut butter is pecan and walnut with a little cinnamon and ginger for flavor and antioxidants. I wanted to try a nut combination today for variety. Cinnamon was added to assist our bodies in processing the fruit sugar that is inevitably consumed with the nut butter. Ginger was included since it goes well with cinnamon and is anti-inflammatory. Initially I made the nut butter without the agave. However I think it needs a little sweetener to bring out the flavor of the nuts. If you like you can add the agave at the end of processing. That is what I did this time and it worked fine.

Pecan and Walnut Butter with Cinnamon and Ginger
Makes just over 1 cup

Ingredients:

1 cup pecans
1 cup walnuts
1 pinch kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon – optional
½ teaspoon ginger, powder – optional
2 teaspoons raw amber agave, or to taste

Directions:

Put everything in the food processor and process until smooth. You will need to stop the processor and scrape down the sides a few times while processing. During the first minute or two it will appear that the nut butter will not get smooth. If you continue to scrape the sides and let the processor continue to work the nut butter will become smooth in time.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 96.29
Calories From Fat (84%) - 81.01

Total Fat - 9.68g
Saturated Fat - 0.87g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 17.94mg
Potassium - 63.1mg
Total Carbohydrates - 2.33g
Fiber - 1.34g
Sugar - 0.49g
Protein - 1.76g

Comments:

The cinnamon and ginger flavors are not as pronounced as I expected. I thought the flavor would increase as it sat in the refrigerator. Next time I will definitely increase the cinnamon and ginger by 50%.

Including pecans added time to the processing of this nut butter. Where the walnut butter took about 1 minute this version was in the food processor at least 5 minutes. I don’t think that pecans added much flavor. Walnut is still the dominant flavor in this nut butter. Unless my husband loves this I will probably go back to all walnut butter but will add cinnamon and ginger.

I need to get back into the kitchen now. Pinto beans are on the stove for a different variation of bean burger for dinner tonight. Our CSA had sweet potatoes and am going to try to shred them and add them to the pinto beans with some sunflower seeds and wheat germ. Expect a recipe for that burger later today, assuming I like how it turns out.

Update:

My husband liked the cinnamon level on this nut butter and doesn't think he would like more added to the next batch. I don't know if this is because his palate is more sensitive to the spice than mine. But I wanted you to have both opinions, mine and his. He did also tell me he shared this at work and the other guys liked the nut butter too.

Homemade Walnut Butter

During the fall we eat a lot of apples. Both my husband and I love apples and will gladly eat them raw cut into wedges. We both prefer them with a little nut butter. Today I made a lightly sweet homemade walnut butter to smear on our apple wedges.

All nut butters are easy to make but walnut butter is faster than most. It took me longer to clean the food processor than it did to make the butter. I think once you have made your own walnut butter you won’t buy it again.

Homemade Walnut Butter
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

2 cups of English walnuts
1 teaspoon of agave, or to taste
1 pinch of kosher salt or to taste

Directions:

Put the walnuts in the food processor and process until the nuts are smooth. You may need to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice while processing. After the nuts are a smooth butter add agave and kosher salt to taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 85.28
Calories From Fat (83%) - 70.91

Total Fat - 8.48g
Saturated Fat - 0.8g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 15.98mg
Potassium - 57.82mg
Total Carbohydrates - 1.85g
Fiber - 0.9g
Sugar - 0.35g
Protein - 1.98g

Comments:

My recipe is lightly sweet but you can increase the agave if you prefer sweeter nut butter. Walnut butter is one of my favorite nut butters. It is also good with a little cinnamon and nutmeg in it. Enjoy.