See this?

Do you know what it is? No, it's not that! Do you really think I'd have that on my counter, in a container? How dare you think in such a manner? No far from that, this my friends is domesticity in a dish! This is homemade, freshly ground peanut butter. Anyone like peanut butter? I see a few raised hands, so read on.

Freshly ground peanut butter yields these:

Don't these raw cookies look delish, luscious, and maybe even rustic? I just found the recipe for these puppies and I am in love! Now don't go all Salmonella on me when I tell you that yes I did eat the dough. Salmonella is no worry with these because it's an egg-less recipe. You heard me right, egg-less cookies! And you know what else? These are cookies you can write home about because mama would be proud. Check out this ingredient list:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, spelt flour, or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 cup organic, chunky natural peanut butter
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
(Courtesy of www.101cookbooks.com)

And the directions are pretty darn simple as well:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Place racks in the top third.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. in a separate larger bowl combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, olive oil, and vanilla. Stir until combined. Pour the flour mixture over the peanut butter mixture and stir until barely combined - still a bit dusty looking. Let sit for five minutes, give one more quick stir, just a stroke or two. Now drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down on each one gently with the back of a fork. It's a loose batter, so if you're set on doing criss-crosses, go ahead and chill the batter for an hour or so before this step. Bake for 10, maybe 11 minutes - but don't over bake or they will be dry. Let cool five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

Make 2 - 3 dozen cookies.
(Again, courtesy of www.101cookbooks.com)

Before I proceed let me tell you that my alterations to the above ingredients included adding just a smidge of olive oil instead of 1/3 cup. I nearly omitted all of the oil, just depending on the natural peanut butter oil for fat, but I probably ended up using a mere 1 to 2 Tablespoons. And for the inquiring mind, I used whole wheat pastry flour as my flour choice. And the peanut butter I used? Take a look at this:


Homemade peanut butter is beyond simple. I remember my first time learning of this wonder and was amazed that it could be so darn easy. Here's what you do. Choose your peanuts. The possibilities are endless. At the risk of sounding like a character from Forrest Gump (remember Benjamin Buford Blue, aka Bubba, naming the nearly endless shrimp recipes that abound?) , there are raw peanuts; dry roasted; dry roasted and salted; honey roasted; and Spanish just to name a few. My personal favorite are all-natural dry roasted with sea salt. After purchasing your peanuts, toss them into either your food processor or blender. Note that if you use your blender you'll have to process the peanuts in fairly small batches; a food processor allows larger batches. On my processor I start by using the grind button till the peanuts are roughly ground. I then use the chop button, which reverses the blades, and I process those babies till they reach the desired consistency. This takes some time, like five minutes or so, but oh is it worth it! The taste is undeniably fresh, and there's something so satisfying about procuring your own peanut butter. Plus it's cheap!

And see these?
These, fellow readers, are heavenly. Trust me on this one!