Tropical Cashew Coconut Spread
A creamy cashew coconut butter loaded with crunchy pieces of banana, coconut and apricots, this Tropical Cashew Coconut Spread is a true paradise in a jar!
It had been a while since I’d last created a fancy gourmet nut butter!
Well, I may have taken a long break, but I definitely haven’t lost the touch. This latest creation of mine is what I would call a complete success. Indeed, this Tropical Cashew Coconut Spread is a veritable tropical paradise in a jar!
You’re looking at a smooth and creamy cashew and coconut butter that’s loaded with crunchy bits of toasted coconut, banana chips and chewy pieces of dried apricots.
Every single bite feels like a concentrated dose of sunshine, injected directly into to your taste buds.
This thing is totally guaranteed to brighten up even the grayest of mornings!
Like most of my nut butters, this one is fairly easy to make, and quite quick too! In fact, this delicious concoction right here won’t even test your patience one bit.
I chose to use my High-Speed Blender to make this particular nut butter because I wanted it to be super smooth and creamy, and no other tool can render nut butter quite as velvety as my trusty Vitamix.
However, if you didn’t own one of those fancy (and fairly pricey, let’s, admit it) high speed blenders, you could make the nut butter in a food processor, providing that is has a good powerful motor.
Before you start, make sure you have all your ingredients ready; here’s what you’re gonna need:
- 2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3 cups dry roasted cashews
- ¼ cup ghee (you’ll want to melt that in the microwave)
- ½ tsp salt
- The seeds from one fresh vanilla bean (totally optional, but strongly recommended)
- ½ cup bananas chips, finely crushed (a rolling pin works wonders for that!)
- ½ cup toasted unswseetened coconut flakes, finely crushed (you can crush the flakes with your fingers or chop them with a chef knife)
- ½ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
Start by combining the shredded coconut and melted ghee and process them until they’re well combined into a rough paste and the coconut starts to release some of its oil, about 1 minute.
Add about half the cashews to the bowl and process on low speed for about 30 seconds while pushing down with the tamper to force the cashews into the blades.
If using a food processor, you’ll want to stop the motor and scrape the sides a few times, rather than push the nuts down with the tamper.
After about 30 seconds, this is pretty much what you should be looking at.
Time to add the rest of the cashews, the salt and vanilla seeds, if using. Like I said, the addition of the vanilla seeds is entirely optional, but I strongly suggest that you throw them in. While very subtle, their contribution to the overall flavor of this sunshiny nut butter is nonetheless absolutely brilliant!
Whatever you do, don’t go adding vanilla extract at this point: this would totally ruin your nut butter and cause it to separate, because of the water it contains. As we all know, water doesn’t mix all that well with oil…
Vanilla powder would do the trick, if you happened to have some of that on hand.
Resume processing, pushing the nuts down into the blades once more with the help of the tamper. Again, if using a regular food processor, you’ll have to stop the motor and scrape the sides a few times.
Slowly increase the speed to 5-6 and continue processing until the butter starts to become creamy, about 30 seconds to a minute.
Remove the lid and scrape the sides with a rubber spatula, and then resume processing, progressively increasing the speed all the way up to 10.
Let her rip for about 60 to 90 seconds…
…until the nut butter becomes really warm and has the consistency of pancake batter.
Throw in the chopped banana chips, toasted coconut and dried apricots and pulse a few times just to incorporate them.
Don’t overdo things here, just a few very quick pulses will do the trick. You don’t want all those beautiful chunks of goodness to completely disintegrate!
This addition alone will have caused the nut butter to thicken up slightly, but at this point, it’ll be very warm, almost hot, and fairly fluid, too!
Carefully transfer your nut butter into hinged lid or Mason type glass jars and then allow it to rest in a cool dry place for at least 24 hours.
This will allow the nut butter to return to its rightful creamy texture and give the flavors a chance to fully develop.
See how beautiful and thick and creamy this got? And look at all the chunks of sunshiny goodness that are hiding in there!
Store your finished nut butter in the pantry for up to several weeks, or in the refrigerator for up to a few months.
Also too, if you were planning on offering this jar of creamy dreamy tropical goodness as a gift, you could garnish it with a few pieces of banana chips, toasted coconut flakes and a pinch of chopped apricots. And then tie a pretty ribbon around the jar, why not?
In all honesty, I think that this jar of creamy, dreamy goodness would make for a present that will not be soon forgotten…
Tropical Cashew Coconut Spread
Ingredients
- 2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3 cups dry roasted cashews
- 1/4 cup ghee, melted
- 1/2 tsp salt, I use Himalayan salt
- The seeds from one fresh vanilla bean, optional
Add-ins
- 1/2 cup banana chips, finely crushed
- 1/2 cup toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, finely crushed
- 1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
Instructions
- In the bowl of your High-Speed Blender or food processor, combine the shredded cococonut and ghee and process until the coconut starts to release some of its oil about 1 minute.
- Add half the cashews and process on low speed for about 30 seconds while pushing down with the tamper to force the cashews into the blades. Add the rest of the cashews, salt and vanilla seeds, if using. Resume processing, pushing the nuts down into the blades once again with the help of the tamper. If using a regular food processor, you'll have to stop the motor and scrape the sides a few times.
- Slowly increase the speed to 5-6 and continue processing until the butter starts to become creamy, about 30 seconds to a minute.
- Remove the lid and scrape the sides with a rubber spatula, and then resume processing, progressively increasing the speed all the way up to 10. Let her rip for about 60 to 90 seconds, until the nut butter becomes really warm and has the consistency of pancake batter.
- Throw in the chopped banana chips, toasted coconut and dried apricots and pulse a few times just to incorporate them.
- Transfer your nut butter into hinged lid or Mason type glass jars and allow it to rest in a cool dry place for at least 24 hours. This will allow the nut butter to return to its rightful creamy texture and give the flavors a chance to fully develop.
- Store in the pantry for up to several weeks, or in the refrigerator for up to a few months.
Nutrition
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One Comment on “Tropical Cashew Coconut Spread”
I do love apricot and coconut flavors together. I need to make some of your Apricot Bulgar Muffins.