I’m a lazy cook. If I can get a machine to do a task for me, then the machine is going to do it. So, today I put my roommate’s Vitamix to work for me.

I’ve tried to make nut butter in it before but it took a lot of time and sometimes it came out more like ground nuts than nut butter. That’s probably because I didn’t follow the directions exactly. What can I say? Turning on a Vitamix to full power is pretty scary. I’m glad I tried again; the results are scarily good.

Photo courtesy of Chocolate-Covered Katie

I’m a visual person so I found this video helpful for showing the steps. My previous mistake was not turning the speed all the way up to 10 and using the tamper to push the nuts down into the blade. When I did this, I had nut butter in under 60 seconds. Amazing. If you have a food processor, feel free to use that instead but it might take longer.

I used a combination of walnuts and hazelnuts but you can use any nut you fancy. Toasting them first at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes brings out their flavor and makes them easier to process.

Once my nuts had turned to butter, I removed half of the butter into a jar and stirred in some vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Yum!

Leaving the other half in the Vitamix, I turned my nut butter into a vegan Nutella! I based it loosely on Chocolate Covered Katie’s “Better Than Nutella” recipe. It came out deliciously rich and creamy. I’ve never had packaged Nutella so I can’t give a direct taste comparison but my creation was pretty darn good.

Not only is homemade nut butter tastier and fresher than anything you could buy, it’s also cheaper and it allows you to personalize your nut butter with your own touches: salted/unsalted, chunky/creamy, and add-ins like I did.