For everyone who can’t get their kids to break away from Skippy or Jif. To all who can’t get used to the taste of plain, natural peanut butter. To each person who doesn’t want to struggle to spread homemade creamy peanut butter onto a piece of toast. This recipe is for you! (And for me, because while I love homemade, natural peanut butter – I can’t get enough of this new recipe!)
You’ve read the ingredients in Skippy and Jif, right? Unreal. Literally. It does have some peanuts in there somewhere, but it mostly has hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. Poor Peter Pan. I doubt he wanted his good name tarnished like this.
And now, to replace that popular grocery store item, I bring you this completely real food, non-hydrogenated, nothing scary, all natural, wonderful, spreadable, smooth, creamy, delicious peanut butter.
The first day I made this, I licked so many spoonfuls I lost track of trips back and forth to the kitchen. After one such trip to the kitchen, once I finished what was on my spoon, I actually found myself sucking the life out of the spoon, apparently in hopes that more of the deliciousness would secrete out of the metal? Then I realized what I was doing and went back to the kitchen for another spoonful. Someone just bring me the jar!
I was not alone. Matt and the kids acted like this was candy. Maybe we’ll make it into a sandwich someday, but for now, we’re getting our protein fix one spoonful at a time. Ah-mazing. Here is the recipe already:
Super Creamy Peanut Butter
- 1 cup natural peanut butter (tutorial link below)
- 4 Tablespoons palm shortening
- 1 - 1 1/2 Tablespoons real maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- In a medium saucepan, melt and stir together all four ingredients until smooth and creamy.
- You can make this more or less sweet by adding more or less maple syrup.
- Pour mixture into a pint sized jar.
- Chill until thickened (about 2 hours).
- Spread on a sandwich, eat with a spoon, eat with a spoon, eat with a spoon, or eat with a spoon.
Make Your Own Natural Peanut Butter!
Wondering where to get Palm Shortening? My favorite source is Tropical Traditions. Spectrum brand Organic Vegetable Shortening (which is made with 100% palm oil) is also good, and can be found at Amazon, or health food stores. Just do not use regular vegetable shortening (like Crisco) – otherwise you’re right back at the not-so-good-for-you peanut butter.
Over the weekend, I made about 8 cups of this peanut butter. I figured my food processor was already messy, my palm shortening was already out, so why not make this effort worth my while? I now have 4 pint sized jars of this peanut butter in my fridge. Well, 4 pints minus several dozen spoonfuls.
Alright – what do you think? Will your family love this?? (The answer is yes.) What kind of peanut butter do you like at your house?
Thank you. With nine kiddos, we do a lot of Jif. Just can’t make the switch, but I really want to. This sounds like it will work for us. Can I just tell you how thankful I am that you make a wreck of your kitchen trying all this crazy stuff, then I just get to copycat it AND enjoy the benefits? you are my hero. I love you!!! I tell other moms about you all the time.
Making a mess of my kitchen on behalf of my family and yours is my pleasure! Thanks for your encouragement and for telling other moms about my site – it is much appreciated!
I second that! I love your recipes, especially for items that are typically store-bought, like condiments. This peanut butter recipe will be fun to try!
How brilliant is this?! Doing this first thing in the morning!!!!!
I’m so excited for you! I mean really, we can’t stop eating this stuff. :)
Hey, Laura! Do you know that Azure Standard sells palm shortening at a much better price than I’ve seen it anywhere? It’s called organic palmfruit shortening and is $10.30/5#. :)
Nope, I hadn’t noticed that at Azure – I’ll check into it. Thanks!
Have you tried it from Azure or do you still prefer Tropical Traditions?
I have not tried Azure’s palm shortening. I just love TT’s so much!
Funny you should post this because I was JUST thinking how I wanted to share a tip with you that is totally relevant to this recipe. I just now used it for two recipes I mixed up. One recipe is my favorite peanut butter dip: 8 oz cream cheese, 8 oz PB, 1/4 c honey or maple syrup- so good with apples, pretzels, or celery. The other recipe was cookies and I used palm shortening instead of butter because of a friend visiting who doesn’t eat dairy. Ok… now for the tip. After dreading recipes that involve measuring peanut butter, palm shortening, honey, etc… I have discovered a so easy method. I use an ice cream scoop for all of those things. If you know the size of the scoop you just do the math and scoop it in. Bring on the peanut butter recipes!
That’s a great tip – I usually just “eyeball” it when I measure! :) I’m totally going to make that fruit dip!
I am so excited about this! We eat homemade natural peanut butter but sometimes I miss skippy! I do have a question….can you tell us more about palm shortening. I have bought two buckets of it (per your recommendations) and used it in a couple things, but when I was using it I wondered what it actually was!! After reading about it I am still clueless…”from palm” doesn’t help me. I have never heard of a palm fruit and I don’t understand how it turns to shortening-can you give us any more insight than what it says on tropical traditions?
Palm shortening is made from the palm oil, which comes from palm trees. Actually, most of the information I’ve learned comes from this page at Tropical Traditions: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/red_palm_oil.htm That page is pretty thorough (with additional links) to describe their method of extracting oil from the trees. Indeed there is a palm fruit (I’ve never seen one!) http://coconutoil.com/palm_oil_history/ which is where this oil comes from. :)
Thanks so much for this info! I’ve resisted using palm oil b/c of environmental concerns. I’m happy to be able to try it; guilt free!
I definitely need to try this- what could I use instead of palm shortening? Butter? Funny that you should post this because I made peanut butter today!! I used to add oil to get it to be spreadable but now I just grind it longer- 3 minutes total and I have a jar of homemade peanut butter made with…drum roll please….PEANUTS! thats IT! I love it :)
ps- still enjoying recipes from your cookbook! you’re awesome!
Yes, butter might work, although I’ve not tried it. Isn’t making homemade peanut butter SO cool?! So glad you’re enjoying the cookbook. Miss you! Kiss that baby girl for me! :)
Where do you purchase your nuts from?
I buy them in bulk from Azure Standard, my health food co-op.
Would coconut oil work in place of the palm shortening? How do you get your natural peanut butter so smooth? I always seem to still have crunchy bits.
Coconut oil would work, but it would turn out a stiffer product, one that wouldn’t spread as nicely. Still yummy though! I still do have a very few crunchy bits in mine, but I find that if I leave it in the food processor until it is practically liquid, that’s when I get the creamiest result.
Hi Laura,
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you and your website. We are slowly making “the switch.” Some days are better than others, but peanut butter has not been easy one. Three questions: 1. How easy is this to spread from the refrigerator ? 2. How long will this last, (in the fridge)? 3. If it’s not easy to spread from the fridge, what is its shelf life otherwise?
Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks for your encouragement!
It’s easy to spread directly from the fridge, although we have found that setting it out for a few minutes first makes it even easier and creamier. I’d say this will last for a month or two in the fridge – and in order to keep the peanuts/oils from the peanuts fresh – I’d always keep it in the fridge instead of the pantry. :)
My girls and I love Trader Joe’s Natural Peanut butter. Just peanuts and salt, that’s it. I love that there is no added oil or sugar! Plus, it’s affordable :) Frankly it is the only PB my girls have ever eaten. The trick to making it easier to spread is to store the jars upside down in the cupboard, then when you reach for a new jar, flip and THOROUGHLY stir before putting in the fridge.
This is the PB we buy, and the only kind my two children have ever had. Thanks SO MUCH for the tip! We do stir thoroughly, but don’t store it upside down. I’m going to flip the jars in my pantry right now. :)
What are your thoughts on using organic coconut oil?
It will work in this recipe, but will make for a stiffer peanut butter that won’t spread as easily. Still great though!
Yet another super recipe, Laura, thank you! Do you know if palm shortening goes ‘bad’? I dug mine out and it says best by Dec 2013. I just haven’t known what to use it in or how to use it so I haven’t used it. This looks like a great start! Thanks for your thoughts!
It should be totally fine! Besides this peanut butter, I love using palm shortening to fry foods and in this Whole Wheat Quick Mix: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/whole-wheat-quick-baking-mix-sneak-peek-into-our-new-oh-for-real-book
Thank you, thank you, thank you! That quick mix will come in handy for sure!
I have some palm oil that isn’t due to expire until May 2014, but it already has a “funky” flavor when I bake with it. Do you store it in the fridge or pantry? Mine is kept room temp, but in a climate controlled house. I’m hesitant to purchase more b/c of this. It was originally bought from Tropical Traditions. Azure Standards has not yet arrived in Michigan :-(
You might want to contact Tropical Traditions about that. It should not smell funky. They might be able to give you a better idea of how to store it to keep it fresher. My understanding is that it is shelf stable. (I only use palm shortening, not palm oil, so I don’t have experience with it myself.)
oops! I meant palm shortening. I have palm shortening, not oil. good idea about contacting Tropical Traditions. Thanks!
Palm oil use has led to mass amounts of deforestation WORLDWIDE and animals are on the brink of extinction over this; PLEASE STOP USING PALM OIL!
Thankfully the palm shortening I use from Tropical Traditions is completely safe and does not contribute to this terrible problem at all. I’m so grateful for this! http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/red_palm_oil.htm
This is an area where we have totally backslid in our healthy eating journey, so I appreciate the recipe. Do you think honey could be substituted for the maple syrup? My daughter is addicted to the Skippy with honey. I gave up trying to fight her on it, but this looks like it could be a winner.
Yep, honey would work great!
Yay! Just ordered my unsalted peanuts and can’t wait to make this on the weekend! Thanks so much for another REAL food recipe!
What a timely article! I just picked up my order from Azure yesterday and I ordered peanuts. I am going to try this today. Thanks!
I had to go make this as soon as I saw the recipe! We all loved it in pita bread for lunch! I agree – the palm shortening from Azure is a MUCH better deal. That’s what we use.
What type of peanuts do you use? Is there a place besides azure to get bulk peanuts?
Thanks
I use unsalted, roasted peanuts. I have yet to find another good source of bulk peanuts online.
We use nuts.com for organic peanut butter stock. The company is very customer service oriented.
Good to know! I get wonderful organic nuts from Braga Farms (https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/where-to-buy-organic-nuts-in-bulk), but they don’t have peanuts. :)
This sounds so good! Unfortunately, my husband is so allergic to peanuts we can’t even have them in the house. I think I will give this a try with sunbutter and see how to we like it. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
My husband has been begging me to stop buying the natural peanut butter. I can’t wait to try this with our new food processor! Have you ever tried using palm shortening in baking cookies or in making frosting (perhaps for sugar cookies)? I only bake them at Christmas, but this past year I didn’t make time to find a good substitute , unfortunately. I guess I’m already planning ahead :) If not the palm kind, do you have any suggestions?
Thanks for all you do! Our home is a lot more Heavenly since a dear friend introduced me to your blog and recipes!!
Yes, palm shortening works great in cookies!
We use palm shortening in our cookies and frosting because my son is dairy free and it works great. Sometimes the cookies are a little dry, but adding an extra egg helps.
Just curious….is there any reason you couldn’t just blend the shortening, syrup, and salt in when you process the peanuts for peanut butter? It would save a step and dirty one less pan. I haven’t tried making my own peanut butter yet because the natural pb I’ve tried is so thick & pasty that my kids don’t like it. This recipe just might inspire me to give it a try.
I have to melt my palm shortening down to liquid in a pan on the stove anyway. BUT, you could do that and then add it along with the other ingredients directly in the food processor, no problem!
I made my peanut butter by processing the solid TT Palm Shortening in with the processed peanuts and the other ingredients and felt that it worked out great Kathy. Though I may want to try to melt the shortening next time like you do, Laura to see if the consistency changes. You’re right, it does save a step, and some time. I do think it’s a little solid after being refrigerated, and mixing it, or sticking it in a microwave for just a few seconds softens it to more spreadable consistency. Not sure if melting the shortening fixes that consistency or not. You may not see this, but if anyone else is wondering, that’s my two cents. :)
I am so excited to see this! A few of my children will eat homemade peanut butter, but a few others (and hubby) prefer the creamy, smooth commercial variety. This looks exactly like what they would enjoy! I can’t wait to try it – just waiting for TT to put their palm shortening on sale and offer free shipping~ I’m all out. :( Maybe I’ll try the suggested coconut oil while I wait. Thanks so much for sharing this great tip!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I have not been able to get my husband and children to switch to natural peanut butter. They just do not like the the taste. So, I started buying Jif natural but I still was not happy with this option. I’ve been on the hunt for a different option for a long time. This recipe is perfect!
Hello, I have purchased Red Palm Oil by Nutiva. I have a case of pint jars(12) and I’m afraid it will go bad before I can use it all. Is there a Palm oil and/or shortening that is not red or is all Palm oil and shortening red? I purchased it b/c that is how we have to purchase from our food co-op now I am not sure how to use it effectively.
Also, do you use a flour mill to grind your peanuts for peanut butter or does that not work the same? We are just trying to make the transfer to using our own milled flours, etc. so I’m trying to see what works best so I don’t end up purchasing products that I don’t really need if another will work.
Thank you
Palm shortening is white, and looks and acts like Crisco (except that palm shortening isn’t bad for us!). I’d use up your palm oil just like you would any vegetable oil – in muffins, to fry food, etc.
I have a Nutrimill, which does not work to grind nuts into nut butters. I use my food processor to make peanut butter as it takes several minutes of grinding the peanuts before all the oils are released, making a smooth peanut butter.
Thanks Laura for your help in understanding differences between Palm oil and shortening.
Also… the Nurtimill is the exact mill that I’m looking into purchasing!
Again, Thanks for your time.
~Kerri
Hi Laura,
Just wanted to thank you for this delicious peanut butter recipe. I, like many others went back to natural P.B. after reading an article that any product with “sugar ” on the label is most likely made from GMO sources unless it specifically says “cane sugar”. So we ditched the Jif Natural that we’d been loving for at least a year. After switching to Adam’s and Laura Schudder’s brand the little ones didn’t want sandwiches so much anymore, until we made this, we’re all eating it by the spoonful! Next on our list is to do a homemade version of Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. I am so excited about that one, that stuff is amazing and I’ve only had it as a sample in the store. Well Ta-Ta for now and thanks again for the recipe!
Hi there stumbled across your site looking for a peanut butter recipe as here in Spain I have not been able to find a decent peanut butter to make my peanut butter cookies thank you so much ,I am going to give it a go this weekend my peanut butter cookies are one cup of sugar one cup of peanut butter and one egg ,just mix all together then roll into balls approx 16 place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper then press down to make cookie shape ,bake at 350f160c for12mins,allow to colon tray then place on wire rack ,I would like to try your smooth peanut but I do not know how to get palm shortening here maybe when I am back in England ,thank you for sharing as
I am truly in love with this recipe! I simply scoop the palm shortening into the food processor with an ice cream scoop that equals 1/4 cup, add the maple syrup, salt and lastly the nuts. I whirl it for 5 minutes, and the end result is pure yummy magic! I make 3 jars at a time and just store them in my pantry. I’ve never had an issue with it going or tasting bad. I also store mine in the cabinet, and it spreads and acts like brand name pb. My family is in love<3
Thanks so much for this recipe. I was looking for alternatives to crisco for pies and then came across this recipe here too. My husband is fine with the natural require stirring pb but I can’t stand trying to make sandwiches with it and the kids don’t like having to stir it etc. I had caved the last few weeks and bought regular pb now I can ditch it again.
Oh so excited to see this recipe. I am looking for ways to use my Palm Shortening. I did make a delicious chocolate cake for my son’s birthday and it was so incredible moist. I do have a question about storing the shortening however. I noticed lately that it is starting to melt. It is already hot here in AZ! Should I store it in the refrigerator?? Thanks for all your recipes and encouraging your readers to make the switch to real, whole foods. I have learned a ton here!
Yes, I would go ahead and store in the fridge. :)
The first time I made this recipe, we loved it. My husband made it today and it came out kind of “chewy”. He said he had it in the food processor for almost 10 minutes. Any ideas? Is it “overdone”?
You’ve got me stumped on this one. I’ve never had a batch turn out chewy. I wouldn’t think it would be overdone. Hmmm…
Hey Laura,
Do you think coconut oil would work instead of palm shortening? I currently use a little bit of it in my natural peanut butter to give it that “creamy” texture. But I still have one kid begging for “real peanut butter” so this may be the trick! :)
Laura hasn’t tried it, but it would probably work just fine!
I started making my own peanut butter after seeing you write about it (I love you!). We were never Jif or Skippy people, but were paying a small fortune for the more natural peanut butters (gotta read the labels!!!!!!) that had to be painstakingly mixed up with a knife, blah, blah, blah. Now I just buy dry roasted unsalted peanuts, the best quality I can find, usually about $3 for a 16oz. jar, and throw them in the food processor, just like you said. I don’t add anything else because my family likes it just the way it is. I let it go for probably 5-8 minutes to get it super smooth, and it gets warm as it’s grinding so everyone gathers around to get it while it’s “hot”. I’m saving 1/2 of what I was paying to buy it at the store!
I have been forever in search of the perfect chocolate peanut butter. The best stuff is “Jiff Chocolate Silk To Go”. But it only comes in tiny containers. This article makes me wonder…..if you can’t buy it….make it! So I am going to give this a try! Creamy is the word here! It MUST be creamy and NOT require gallons of milk to wash down.
Could you run this through a water-bath canner to make it last longer? You’re already heating on the stove-top… I haven’t done much canning so I’m still learning the in-and-outs.
I’m not sure about that. I’ve never canned anything with nuts before. I’m guessing it would need to be pressure sealed.
Just wanted to say thanks. My family lives in Uganda, my husband is British and his favorite thing from America is our peanut butter. The local peanut butter is very good but has the consistency of glue. We finished our last smooth jar from America this morning and I decided to look online and see if we could possibly make some. Found your recipe….
we are some happy American/Ugandan/British people over here.
How cool! My boyfriend is a Skippy PB addict, so whenever he buys some I obviously end up eating some of those good hydrogenated oils too, yuck. He usually doesn’t really care for the natural peanuts-in-a-blender PBs, so this recipe is perfect. Quick substitution question – do you think ghee would work okay as the fat?
I would imagine ghee would work fine, but I’ve never tried it to know for sure. :)
Hello! This seems super delish! I’m addicted to skippy & Jiff & i cannot wait to try this! But i can’t find palm shortening where I live.. Can I replace it with coconut oil?
Yes, that should work!
I liked this but no my two boys and husband did not. I could not get this to be completely creamy. There was still a slight grain in it but that did not bother me. The rest of my family did not care for the taste. I used regular, unsalted roasted peanuts.
I almost hate to post this question because it shows my lack of education in natural foods, but hey I’m learning.
How do you make natural peanut butter? Is it just using the food processor to grind the nuts up or are there other ingredients added to it?
No problem! Here are the instructions: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-to-make-peanut-butter
Hi Laura! Can I use ghee instead of palm shortening? Will it yield the same creamy consistency?
I’ve never tried it so I can’t say for sure!
What about putting these ingredients in the food processor with the peanuts when first making the peanut butter? Have you ever tried that?
I haven’t tried that! I think I’d still want to grind the peanuts first to be sure they got smooth, but then adding the other ingredients directly in the food processor with them is a good idea!
This is so good!! YUMMMM!! And really easy to make. Thank you so much!
This looks really awesome!
Does anyone think this recipe taste like Jiffy… We love Jiffy smooth peanut butter & need a healthier option
Why don’t you just make your own peanut butter.
Quick question (which I hope you will see, since this post is over 6 years old!)…what could we substitute for the maple syrup or honey that would work and be NONsugar? Keto diet friendly is what I’m aiming for. Thank you!