Hi Everyone,
A picture can be say a thousand words, I’ll let my picture speak for its self.
Ahh yes the picture above is combined with the two things I truly love, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie dough. Pure heaven in every bite full.
But before I get to my latest Peanut Butter creation I wanted to share with you some good things. On Tuesday, I gave blood. Completely unplanned, something I didn’t realize I was doing until 7am in the morning. See, every year our office building has a blood drive and last year was the first time I ever gave blood. My experience wasn’t great. As I watched my co-workers come and go I sat there with the needle in my arm as my blood slowly gave. I told the nurse about my experience last time, so she made sure it was done correctly this time and sure enough I was done in a few minutes. Giving blood is something I don’t like to do, but I know I am doing a good thing. The only weird thing that happened this round of giving is that my ear on the side she drew blood is muffled. I don’t know if it is from drawing blood or just me. I feel like I went swimming than started to drive up a hill. I’m kind of waiting to see if my ear pops. I know it won’t, we’ll see how I feel later tonight or tomorrow before I do anything. I just have to keep in mind that I am helping others.
When I came home from work I saw a little package on my step and it was from Trader Joe’s. Remember when I told you I was one of the top three recipes for the Quinoa Recipe Contest? Well they sent me some goodies. I got a $25.00 gift card for Trader Joe’s, a cute bag, Tri-Color Quinoa and a nifty can of corn. I’m intrigued by the corn. I never seen this in the store and it’s so cute in the thermos. It’s also very light, almost feels empty. My Husband asked me to open it because he does’t think there is anything in the can, but I won’t in case there is. I never had canned corn before and I am looking forward to trying it.
Now for my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cashew Butter. On Saturday, I was bored, hot and I couldn’t bake, but I wanted something different, something I never made before, something that was sweet! I’ve had a horrible sweet tooth lately. After digging through my pantry I saw a bag of unsalted roasted cashews and the idea of Cookie Dough came to mind. I originally thought of making cookie dough peanut butter balls, but I thought it would be so much nicer making a big batch of Cookie Dough, plus I didn’t feel like rolling the balls. I am so glad that I created this wonderful snack!
I will tell you, you probably won’t want to make this Cashew Butter! It is WAY to addicting!! Since I made it over the weekend, it is pretty much gone now. I was driving home from work and all I could think about was taking animal crackers and dipping it into my Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, yum, only to find that someone ate half of my Cookie Dough! Ahhhh!! And all the animal crackers were gone! They ate half!! I almost cried! I’m not an emotional person, but when it comes to my Peanut Butter/Cashew Butter and someone ate it, I can get very upset. Now don’t get me upset! I guess that means I need to get more cashews and make some of this yummy goodness and soon!
This is probably one of my best trial and error recipes ever!! I must have ate half a cup just testing it, but after a few tries I perfected it! Does this taste just like cookie dough? No, but it’s pretty darn close. But does it taste good? Ahhhh hell yes! Sorry for using the “H” word, but sometimes good things are worth swearing about. he he
I made this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cashew Butter using unsalted cashews, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, coconut oil, mini chocolate chips and love. If you haven’t made a nut butter, you must, it’s so rewarding. I don’t know what it is about turning nuts into something so creamy good, but it feel like I conquered the Peanut Butter world! If you have a 7 – 12 cup food processor than you should cut the recipe in half. Making the whole recipe may burn out your food processor. I used Zach, my 16 cup food processor to make this. Yes, I am crazy enough to name my food processor.
- 4 cups cashews, roasted, unsalted
- 5 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp. coconut oil
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 4 tsp. brown sugar
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- Add cashews to food processor and blend until a big lump forms. You may have to scrap the sides of the bowl down a few times. Once lump forms, add the vanilla extract, coconut oil, salt and brown sugar and blend until desired consistency. If you like your nut butter creamier, add a pinch more coconut oil.
- Add to a bowl and let cool. Once cooled, stir in chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container.
Calories per tablespoon: 57.7, Fat: 4.5, Cholesterol: 0, Sodium: 1.5, Potassium: 2, Carbs: 3.9, Fiber: .03, Sugar: 2.3, Protein: 1.3
Did you notice the calories on how low they are? I have no idea how that is possible? I calculated it twice and I measured out the Nut Butter twice. However the cashews were only 170 calories per 1/4 cup which is low for nuts. Here’s a little Cashew Nut Fact for weight loss:
People who eat nuts twice a week are much less likely to gain weight than those who rarely eat nuts. Cashew nuts are indeed relatively high in fat, but it is considered “good fat.” This is attributable to the ideal fat ratio in the nut, 1:2:1 for saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated, respectively, which is recommended by scientists for tip-top health. Cashew nuts contain less fat than most other popular nuts, including peanuts, pecans, almonds and walnuts. They are dense in energy and high in dietary fiber, making them a very valuable snack for managing weight gain.
I should be super skinny with all the nuts I eat! What happened? lol
Well I hope you like my little cashew facts and I do hope you make peanut butter, it’s truly a wonderful thing to make and I guarantee you will feel so proud!! The only issue is that it tastes so much better than store-bought that you will never want to buy jarred again! Trust me on that one!
Time for me to go, I need to make dinner and some snacky snacks for the week. Have a wonderful Wednesday!!
Toodles,
Jennifer
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway.
