Into the Strenuous Briefness

I love it. It’s been a standby of mine since forever. As a kid, the only sandwich I would eat was peanut butter, no jelly. (Seriously, I didn’t eat any lunch meat ever until high school, and even then it was only when there was no way for me to get a peanut butter sandwich.)

My sandwich habits have branched out (nothing more delicious than spicy cured meat and ridiculously sharp cheese), but peanut butter remains a staple. And tonight I made my own!

Easiest thing ever. In food processor, 2 cups of roasted unsalted peanuts and 2 tablespoons of oil. Peanut oil was ridiculously expensive, so I got grapeseed oil instead and it worked out great. I added a heaping tablespoon-ish of brown sugar and about 2 tsp of sea salt, but you could obviously do whatever you wanted. Next time I’m going to blend in some cinnamon and sugar, I think. Honey would be lovely. My current mix is delicious, though—slightly sweet with a hint of salt.

I don’t think it’s any cheaper than buying pre-made stuff—a jar of peanuts costs about the same as a jar of peanut butter. It’s probably at least marginally healthier, though. And tinkering with the taste is fun.