Strawberry Cashew Butter

I’ve been the grumpiest of grumps this past week and to no one's surprise, I’m blaming the heat. It’s just hard for me to enjoy life when I’m sweating and sticking to everything, you know?

And when it’s this kind of hot - several 100°+ days in a row - it’s noticeably harder for me to do a lot of the things I normally like to do, including cooking.

Since I’ve lived through enough summers in Texas to know this about myself, I was pretty intentional about factoring this in to my meal and grocery plans. Instead of doing my “usual” cooking, I planned to make things that required little-to-no heat, but I also included things that felt like they were just for fun.

I don’t know exactly when I picked up this little side hobby of making different flavors of nut butters (low-key weird, I know), but it’s become something that I really enjoy and love to share with friends and fam.

I made this Strawberry Cashew Butter on a day that I didn’t want to do a damn thing, and at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I could literally feel the bad attitude leaving my body as I did.

Something about the buzz of the food processor and seeing the color change from beige to bright pink/red just really did something to my brain. So I’m sharing in case you could use a little food mood shake up, too.

• Time: about 5-8 minutes in the food processor

• How to prepare: gather tools + ingredients

• Food processor

• Measuring cups + spoons

• Roasted, unsalted cashews - 2 cups

• Freeze dried strawberries - 1 cup

• Coconut oil, melted - 1 tablespoon

• Maple syrup - 1 tablespoon

• Diamond Crystal kosher salt - 1/4 teaspoon (start with less if using table or sea salt)

Add cashews to the food processor and pulse until the texture looks like coarse sand.

1. Add the strawberries, coconut oil, maple syrup, and salt. Blend until everything is smooth and combined. This will take about 5-8 minutes, including time to stop and scrape down the sides as needed.

3. Taste and adjust as needed. The ingredients listed are just a starting point, so add more of anything to make it your own!

4. Transfer to a container with a lid (I love using washed and dried jam jars) and store at room temp for up to 2 weeks or in the fridge for up to a month.

Spread on toast, waffles, or bagels.

Mix into vanilla yogurt or ice cream!

Eat by the spoonful or as a part of a snack plate.

I mean 😍😍😍

Hope you enjoy as much as I do!