Pecan Date Butter Recipes

HOMEMADE PECAN BUTTER

Steps:

• Pour the pecans into a large skillet and toast, stirring often, over medium heat until fragrant (don't let them burn!). This will take about 4 to 8 minutes.
• Pour the toasted pecans into a food processor or high-speed blender and let them cool for several minutes. Then blend the pecans, pausing to scrape down the sides with a spatula often. The mixture will be crumbly at first, but will eventually blend into super-creamy goodness. Be careful not to let the mixture get too hot, which seems to cause oil separation. You might have to stop and let the mixture/machine cool down for a bit just to be safe. The amount of blending time required really depends on your machine-my old food processor took ten to fifteen minutes to turn the pecans into pecan butter, but my fancy Blendtec and Vitamix blenders can turn it into butter in a minute or two.
• Add a pinch of sea salt and a dash of cinnamon (if using). Blend again, taste, and add more salt or cinnamon if needed.
• Pour into a small jar, seal it with a lid, and store it in the refrigerator for good measure. This pecan butter will keep well, refrigerated, for up to 1 month or so-obviously, don't eat it if you see or smell any signs that it has gone bad.

PECAN DATE BUTTER

Steps:

• Place pecans in a dry saute pan and over medium heat toast until browned. Toss often (every ten seconds or so) so they don't burn. As soon as they are toasted, pour out of the hot pan onto a plate or small sheet tray to cool. Let cool completely to room temperature.
• Check to make that all of the dates are in fact pitted. I found out the hard way that sometimes a few unpitted dates get mixed in.
• Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor along with the oil and puree until smooth. With my high-speed food processor, it took about a minute or two to get the dates to a gummy consistency.
• Remove the pureed date mixture to a small bowl.
• In the same food processor bowl, add the now cooled pecans. Process in 15 second blasts, removing the cover for a second to release heat. I found out through trial and error that if you just let it go, the heat from friction and the food processor motor will heat the nuts and separate the oil from the nut solids. Once that happens, there is nothing you can do to correct it and you must start over.
• Keep pulsing for 15 seconds and eventually the nuts will go from pieces to ground, to a fine ground and finally to a smooth creamy consistency. To get mine to a smooth creamy consistency took about 2-3 minutes, stopping every 15 seconds to make sure the mixture did not heat up too much.
• Once the nuts are creamy, add the pureed dates back in along with the salt and pulse just to combine.
• Taste and add more salt as needed.

PECAN BUTTER TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. Line 12 muffin cups with foil liners. (Do not use paper-lined foil liners.), On a work surface, unroll crust. Cut 12 circles with a floured 4-in. round cookie cutter (save remaining crust for another use). Gently press crust circles onto bottoms and up sides of foil liners. Refrigerate while preparing filling., In a microwave-safe bowl, combine raisins and water; microwave on high 2 minutes. Drain; cool slightly., In a small bowl, mix egg, brown sugars, melted butter, vanilla and salt until blended; stir in pecans and raisins. Spoon into crust cups, dividing evenly., Bake on a lower oven rack until filling just begins to bubble up and crusts are light golden brown, 7-9 minutes (do not overbake). Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. If desired, serve with ice cream.

DATE PECAN BARS

Steps:

• To prepare filling, mix together dates, sugar and water in saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 10 minutes). Allow to cool. Add pecans.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream butter and brown sugar. Combine remaining ingredients and stir into butter mixture until well blended. Press half of the filling into a 9x13-inch glass baking dish. Spread with cooled filling. Cover with remaining filling mixture, patting lightly. Bake until lightly browned (approximately 25 to 30 minutes). Cool and cut into bars.

HOMEMADE PECAN BUTTER

Steps:

• If roasting pecans, place on a greased cookie sheet in preheated 350 degree oven. Spread them out in a thin layer to roast evenly.
• Roast for 5 minutes, stir, then roast for another 5 minutes until you can smell them. Take care not to scorch them!
• As soon as they come out of the oven, place them on a flat plate or piece of parchment paper to cool.
• Add cooled pecans to food processor and blend on HIGH until finely ground, 2-3 minutes.
• Add vegetable oil 1/2 tbs at a time and continue to blend until butter reaches desired consistency.
• Add salt to taste.
• Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge. Usually, this will keep 1 to 2 months if you used fresh nuts. Storing at room temperature will accelerate rancidification.