Chai Cashew Butter

Chai spice is the severely underrated, and (in my opinion) superior cousin to pumpkin spice. Yeah, I said it.

If you've never made nut butter before, do it! It's super easy, I promise. All you need are some nuts and a food processor or good blender.

The first time I attempted nut-butter-making was fairly traumatic. I had seen a post about how easy it was but once I got started, I was sure I had done something wrong. 

THE KEY HERE IS PATIENCE.

After a couple of minutes, your nut mixture will still be crumbly and you'll be cursing me but KEEP GOING. I have provided step-by-step photos because I feel like they are very useful in this instance.


Here's what you'll need:

• 2 cups unsalted cashews (or any other nut)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom (I always add a bit more- it's my all-time favourite!)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• coconut oil (optional)

Step One:

Add all of the cashews to your food processor (or blender) and blend. You will have to blend the nuts continuously for about 5-10 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides whenever necessary.

This is what your mixture will look like after about 1 minute. Still really crumbly but keep going:

This is what your mixture will look like after about 2 and a half minutes. It will start to clump together:

After about 3 minutes, your mixture will start to smooth out a little bit but it will still be clumping together:

After about 5 minutes, it will become fairly smooth. This is what I would consider Crunchy Nut Butter. You can totally stop at this stage, but I prefer mine super smooth and creamy.

Step Two:

Blend for about 2 more minutes and you'll hit the final stage. Once you reach this point, it's time to add your spices:

Blend for 1 more minute, with the spices. At this point, sometimes the mixture will get a bit chunky again so if that's the case, you can add a bit of coconut oil.

And then you're done! 

Enjoy! xo