HOWEVER, you can absolutely use peanuts if you want a pumpkin spice flavored peanut butter. This pumpkin spice cashew butter is absolutely delicious on pretty much anything. Try it on pumpkin baked oatmeal, with celery and cranberries as a twist on the classic “ants on a log,” on toast, on oatmeal, with apples, drizzled on top of yogurt, with pretzels…the list goes on. 🙂
How to Make Homemade Nut Butter
You’re going to need either a high-speed blender (such as a Vitamix) or a food processor to make homemade nut butter. I’m still amazed at how quickly my Vitamix turns nuts into a creamy nut butter in a matter of minutes! It’s safe to say my Vitamix just may be my all-time favorite Christmas gift my husband has given me. 🙂 Making homemade nut butter can be much cheaper than buying store-bought, especially when you’re buying nut butters other than peanut butter. Plus, it’s so fun to be creative with homemade flavors! Whether it’s strawberry peanut butter (like a PB&J!), this honey cinnamon RX peanut butter, or chocolate peanut butter, the possibilities are endless!
Ingredients and Substitution Ideas
I’m happy to report that you only need 6 ingredients to make this delicious pumpkin spice cashew butter…and that’s even counting salt, which doesn’t really count as an ingredient…does it?!
Cashews
As I’ve mentioned, feel free to substitute 2 cups of peanuts in place of the peanuts if you want a pumpkin spice flavored peanut butter. I just personally don’t prefer the strong flavors of peanuts + pumpkin spice together so I went with cashews. Trust me….you can’t go wrong with this original cashew version!
Dates
Soft Medjool dates (found in the produce section of your grocery store) are used to naturally sweeten this nut butter! I love sweetening recipes using fruit. 🙂 You could try using a couple tablespoons of pure maple syrup (similar to this recipe) or honey!
Pumpkin pie spice
Definitely needed for the pumpkin spice flavor. 😉 I actually tried adding a little bit of pumpkin puree in one test batch…let’s just say it has way too high of a water content and didn’t turn out well LOL. It ended up being more of a pumpkin cookie dough…still edible and actually pretty delicious, but not what I was going for. I always buy pumpkin spice from the store as I just find that easier instead of having lots of spice I don’t use for anything else, but you can also make your own.
Cinnamon
I find cinnamon pairs so well with pumpkin spice, and I love a strong cinnamon flavor. Feel free to decrease amount or omit if you want though!
Sea salt
I used unsalted nuts, so a bit of salt is needed to bring all the flavors together. If you’re using salted nuts though, you can omit this.
Coconut oil
The pumpkin spice cashew butter will thicken up when you add the dates, which is NORMAL. A bit of coconut oil (or any neutral-flavored oil of your choice) will smooth everything out and turn the nut butter into drippy, creamy deliciousness. 🙂
- 2 cups roasted cashews (can sub peanuts)
- 3 Medjool dates (large and soft)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (if nuts are unsalted)
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil (or oil of choice)
- Blend nuts until nut butter forms (I used my Vitamix; you can also use a food processor).
- Then add rest of ingredients and blend until smooth and drippy.
- Makes 1.5 heaping cups.
- This will last a couple weeks at room temperature, or you can store in the fridge up to a couple months. This nut butter will likely harden in the fridge, so let your serving come to room temperature (or microwave a few seconds) before eating!
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