Come autumn, the harvest of almonds, pecans, and hazelnuts begins in earnest. Turning them into your own homemade nut butter not only makes storing easy, but also transforms an everyday snack into a rich, spreadable butter. A blender produces the smoothest results, but only a heavy-duty one is up to the task. As an alternative, use a food processor; the butter will just be a bit coarser.

Ingredients

• 2 cups untoasted pecans
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1-1/2 to 4 Tablespoons canola, vegetable, or other neutral-flavored oil
• 1 teaspoon honey

Preparation

1. Put the nuts in a heavy-duty blender or a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
2. Add the salt and purée until the nuts become fairly smooth, adding only enough oil to help the nuts break down.
3. Add the honey and pulse to mix.
4. Transfer the nut butter to a sterile jar and store in a cool, dry place or the refrigerator.

Make Ahead Tips

The nut butter will keep at cool room temperature for up to 2 months, or in the refrigerator for 6 to 9 months.

Variations

Chunky Nut Butter: Coarsely chop 1/4 cup of the nuts. Make nut butter with the remaining nuts, and then stir in the chopped nuts by hand.

Flavors: You can adjust the flavor notes even more by adding additional honey, salt, maple syrup, cinnamon, or vanilla.

Serving Suggestions

Nut butter is delicious any time of day, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. Here are a few tasty ways to use yours up:

• Make banana and nut butter sandwiches.
• Top a bowl of oatmeal with a spoonful of any nut butter.
• Toss lo mein noodles with almond butter, soy sauce, sautéed snow peas, carrots, and scallions.
• Dollop cooked green beans with hazelnut butter.
• Swirl any nut butter into vanilla ice cream.
• Spread pecan butter between two shortbread cookies.
• Blend hazelnut or almond butter into smoothies.