It Ain't Cheating... It's Called Strategy

(Photo via Comfortable Home Life)

It's been a month withdrawal from the light of my morning meal and sometimes night snack--peanut butter. I don't think about it much, it's how I get through it but of course, the obsession and urge to have a dose of the luxury ingredient creeps across my mind occasionally.

I end up noshing on a handful of nuts in an attempt to alleviate my craving and drift off into a daydream of the day I'll finally reunite with man's best creation only to pause and find out that I've already eaten a heaping cup of nuts to make up for what's missing in my system. Apparently, my tummy didn't want to make new friends.

The other day, I was munching on a banana and realized that the lonely flavor was lacking you-know-what. I reached out for Nutella because the texture was just as close to the consistency of natural peanut butter. It was surprisingly good but too overwhelmingly sweet for me. Raw nuts and Nutella failed me to Cloud 9.

I decided to cheat.... just a little. My creation?

Coconut Cashew Butter

• 2 cups raw cashews
• 3 tablespoons honey (I didn't exactly measure this. Just drizzle away!)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3-4 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp tahini 
• 1 fresh vanilla bean or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Line a cookie sheet pan with parchment paper.

3. Spread cashews on the pan and drizzle all over with honey. 

4. Put in oven and roast until golden, about 12-15 mins. Keep an eye on it as it cooks pretty fast. The last thing you want is burnt cashew butter!

5. Cool for a min or two then quickly scrape it into a food processor and process until it gets grainy in texture. 

6. Add sea salt, coconut oil, tahini, vanilla, and shredded coconut. Process again until it gets to your desired level of smoothness. Add more oil if it's still too dry.

You want to keep it a bit on the runny side because it firms up and becomes creamy after you store it for a couple hours. I prefer it a bit chunky so I leave out the shredded coconut and stir it in later after everything's blended.

This is just about Cloud 8.... just a step closer to heaven!