Toasty, golden, caramelized coconut butter made at home with one ingredient in 15 minutes flat. Drizzle over yogurt or oatmeal, use it in place of peanut butter in homemade peanut butter cups, or just eat it off the spoon- this super simple recipe is perfect for all the toasted coconut lovers out there!
**AUGUST 2019 UPDATE**
This recipe was originally posted in September of 2016, and is still one of my all-time favorite homemade nut butters. It was in desperate need of new photos and less wordy recipe instructions, so I’m re-posting it today. I’ve left the original blog post in tact below, for the sake of nostalgia. Feel free to scroll straight to the bottom to get the recipe, if you’ve already read this old blog post!
Today I’m sharing a crazy simple recipe with you; it has one ingredient and just two steps, yet the results are a dreamy, golden, drippy toasted coconut butter.
If you’ve had coconut butter before, you already know how good it is. Toast the coconut first, though, and magic happens.
Here’s how you make it:
1. Toast a big heap of unsweetened shredded coconut. You can toast the coconut in a pan on the stove, or just stick it in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I find coconut will toast perfectly in the time it takes for my oven to preheat; stick the pan into the cold oven, then check it when the oven beeps at you to announce it is fully preheated. However you toast it, just don’t burn it! Coconut quickly goes from barely-golden to yup-it’s-black in just a few minutes.
2. Once toasted, dump all the warm coconut into a food processor or high-powered blender. Blend on high, scraping down the sides occasionally, until you have thin, runny golden liquid in your blender. This took about 90 seconds in my Vitamix, though could take up to 5 minutes in a regular food processor. Be patient, it will liquefy eventually.
That’s it!
If you like things sweet, go ahead and add 1-3 Tablespoons of coconut sugar to the coconut butter. If not, just leave it plain like I do. I like to store my toasted coconut butter, labeled, in a glass jar at room temperature. If it’s hot out, your coconut butter will remain a liquid. If it’s relatively cool, it will solidify. Along the same lines of logic, drizzling warm coconut butter over cold foods (think yogurt, ice cream, chilled fruit) will create an instant Magic Shell-like coating. Drizzling/crumbling cold coconut butter over warm foods (think oatmeal, toast, pancakes, waffles, warm brownies, etc) will get it all melty and drippy.
Go forth, and make toasted coconut butter! I promise, once you taste it’s golden, toasty flavor, you’ll be hooked. Let me know how it turns out by commenting below, or taking a picture and tagging me on Instagram so I can see!
Homemade Toasted Coconut Butter
Time: 15 minutes
Yields: 1 1/2-3 cups
Ingredients:
- 4-8 cups shredded, unsweetened coconut
Instructions:
- Toast your coconut until golden brown. You can do this either on a sheet pan in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven (no need to preheat- just stick it in there and it’ll toast as the oven heats up) or in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often. In either case, it should take-out 10 minutes to toast. Watch closely to ensure it doesn’t burn; a few white, untoasted pieces are fine, as long as the majority of the coconut is golden.
- Transfer coconut, while still warm, to a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend on high, scraping down the sides once or twice, until the coconut has turned into a liquid. This could take anywhere from 2-5 minutes, depending on the power of your machine.
- Store coconut butter in a jar with a lid at room temperature for up to a month. Heads up: coconut butter solidifies when cold, but it can be crumbled with a fork onto warm food, or microwaved for 10 seconds, to become liquid again.
NOTES:
- I find that using less than 4 cups of shredded coconut isn’t enough for the food processor to easily blend, and there isn’t room for more than 8 cups- any amount in between will work well!
- I rarely sweeten my coconut butter because I like the flavor as is. If you taste it and need a touch of sweetness, try adding coconut sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time until it’s sweet enough for you. Do not add liquid sweeteners like honey or maple syrup, as they will cause it to seize up and result in a clumpy, gritty texture.