Almond and sesame butter

I must say this one is a first for me ! My only reference to homemade peanut butter is the Zim version I grew up with. Made from roasting peanuts over a fire, and then MANUALLY (or with a machine) grinding the little things to a pulp or paste.. Back home we know it as ' Dovi' . It's salty, delicious and has a distinct 'roasted' undertone.

So I thought hey - I want to try this myself..

Skip the roasting process though, fast forward and find

• 2 cups of Almonds / peanuts / macadamias / cashews / anything that resembles a nut (:   
• 2 pinches of salt / more or less to your taste?
• An optional 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Adding oil is NOT really necessary; you can make delicious peanut butter without it. I just added it for the Sesame falvour.

Now what? SIMPLE!! Just add IT ALL to a blender, and BLEND!! This process does require some patience and depending on the strength of your blender it may take longer.. In general the time is about 12-15 minutes. Give your blender a few breaks / rests inbetween to cool down.

At first the blended nuts resemble a powdery mixture and as you carry in blending the little wonders slowly release their oils and a defenitive smooth paste will develop.

DON'T STOP THERE! Carry on, until the almonds have magicallt transformed into a smooth, salty, delicious peanut butter.. and once you have mastered this easy feat - you can experiment with other types of nuts - and adding different flavours.

A few ideas - Almond and chocolate chip butter, Macadamia and Honey Butter, Hazelnut and Espresso butter.. Cashew and Maple butter ..OOh and the list can go on and on!

See you ladle !
Sanja