Categories: Drafts

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Pecan Cashew Butter

Your Nutella will weep in shame in the corner of your pantry when you put this insanely dreamy, decadent pecan cashew butter on the shelf.

The secret weapon in this devious nut butter is, of course, bourbon or whiskey, but you can omit that if you generally avoid alcohol or are feeding children. Since it has a such a strong flavor and isn’t cooked, you only need a minimal amount and should not expect to have any affect from the alcohol.

The trick is to make plain, lightly salted cashew butter first and then make the pecan butter with all of the flavorings separately. Instead of fully emulsifying the two (which would also be good), just lightly combine the two to give you the streaky effect. Keeping them separate allows the buttery flavor of the cashew butter to mimic a pie crust, while the chocolate pecan butter maintains a richer flavor, accented by the cashews.

Smear this mischievous spread on toast or muffins with a touch of flaky sea salt, make a vegan marshmallow fluff sandwich, top on yogurt or oats, add it in ribbons to your favorite homemade ice cream, or just eat it straight from the jar as I often do.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Cashew Pecan Butter

This decadent adult nut butter is the spread dreams are made of.

8 oz cashews (raw, unsalted (or buy roasted, unsalted preferably without any additional oil))
8 oz pecans (raw, unsalted (or buy roasted, unsalted preferably without any additional oil))
3 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
2 tbsp maple syrup
½ tsp bourbon or whiskey (or omit)
½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F and add nuts to one or two half sheet pans, keeping them separate.
Roast for about 10 minutes, stirring half way.

For the Cashew Butter "Crust"

Add cashews and a pinch of salt to food processor and turn on, keeping machine running for about 10 minutes until a creamy nut butter texture evolves, scraping down sides as needed.
Remove cashew butter and set aside. Clean and thoroughly dry food processor bowl.
Add pecans to food processor with a pinch of salt and turn on until smooth. Pecan butter will have a much runnier viscosity due to the oils.
Add cocoa powder, maple syrup, bourbon and vanilla to pecan butter and mix until combined.
Add dollops of pecan butter around the top of the pecan butter mixture. Pulse the food processor 2-3 times to get the two butters gently swirled. Then carefully scoop into storage jar.