There seems to be some confusion about what coconut butter is, and it's my pleasure to clear that up. Coconut butter is not coconut oil. It is not a combination of oils that makes vegan butter for use on your toast or in baking croissants.
It's a nut butter. You got it: just like peanut butter, almond butter or pumpkin seed butter, it is just puréed coconut that makes a spreadable butter.
And you might ask why you would bother doing that with coconut, and it's a fair question. There are a few applications that I've found coconut butter really useful in. For one, coconut butter is terribly yummy just spread on your toast or used as a dip for fruit, so it does have some commonalities with other nut butters in that way. But perhaps even more interestingly, it has a lot of the properties of coconut oil, in that it gets really nice and solid when it's chilled. So when you use coconut butter as a base for something like a mock white chocolate, it turns out really creamy, smooth and brittle, much like chocolate is. So my most recent success with it was to make mint-chocolate chip mock white chocolate candies with coconut butter, and do I really need to tell you they were delicious?
So making coconut butter is actually really easy. But you do need a food processor for best results. So if you have one, don't be daunted; the process is actually laughably easy.
So here's what you need:
- A food processor fitted with the chopping blade
- Unsweetened coconut
- A rubber spatula (I use a silicone one like these spatulas)
- Something to store/portion the butter (I use a giant ice cube tray)
- A bit of flat fridge/freezer space
And here's how you do it:
1. Dump your coconut into the food processor and put the lid on.
2. Turn the food processor on and let run for about 5 minutes.
3. Scrape the bowl sides & bottom thoroughly (careful not to slice your spatula!).
4. Put the lid back on and run for 5 minutes more or until very smooth.
5. Pour your coconut butter into a container or molds.
6. Refrigerate or freeze until firm. If using molds, remove and wrap in plastic.
7. Store in the fridge for a month or in the freezer up to 6 months.
This method can be used for any number of nuts, but coconut butter will mold better than most nut butters. When I make peanut butter or what have you, I usually just dump it into a mason jar and keep it in the fridge.
Enjoy! If you have any questions, post them below!
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| Each of these blocks is about 1/2 cup coconut butter. |
And you might ask why you would bother doing that with coconut, and it's a fair question. There are a few applications that I've found coconut butter really useful in. For one, coconut butter is terribly yummy just spread on your toast or used as a dip for fruit, so it does have some commonalities with other nut butters in that way. But perhaps even more interestingly, it has a lot of the properties of coconut oil, in that it gets really nice and solid when it's chilled. So when you use coconut butter as a base for something like a mock white chocolate, it turns out really creamy, smooth and brittle, much like chocolate is. So my most recent success with it was to make mint-chocolate chip mock white chocolate candies with coconut butter, and do I really need to tell you they were delicious?
So making coconut butter is actually really easy. But you do need a food processor for best results. So if you have one, don't be daunted; the process is actually laughably easy.
So here's what you need:
- A food processor fitted with the chopping blade
- Unsweetened coconut
- A rubber spatula (I use a silicone one like these spatulas)
- Something to store/portion the butter (I use a giant ice cube tray)
- A bit of flat fridge/freezer space
And here's how you do it:
1. Dump your coconut into the food processor and put the lid on.
2. Turn the food processor on and let run for about 5 minutes.
3. Scrape the bowl sides & bottom thoroughly (careful not to slice your spatula!).
4. Put the lid back on and run for 5 minutes more or until very smooth.
5. Pour your coconut butter into a container or molds.
6. Refrigerate or freeze until firm. If using molds, remove and wrap in plastic.
7. Store in the fridge for a month or in the freezer up to 6 months.
This method can be used for any number of nuts, but coconut butter will mold better than most nut butters. When I make peanut butter or what have you, I usually just dump it into a mason jar and keep it in the fridge.
Enjoy! If you have any questions, post them below!
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