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Love. I love this creamy, rich spread. Loaded with MCFAs (medium chain fatty acids), this once shunned superfood has been reborn with new research and understanding of it’s healthy profile. Simply, medium chain fatty acids are easily assimilated into energy within the body, fats your body NEEDS!
From NaturalNews.com: Coconut oil/butter is high in medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). This saturated fat is considered a rare and important building block of every cell in the human body, and can actually reduce cholesterol and heart disease. It boosts immunity, kills bacteria and viruses, protects against cancer and other degenerative diseases, and prevents osteoporosis by promoting calcium absorption. It also slows down aging and is good for skin radiance.
This is one of those posts that I hesitated to write. I figured most people already knew how to do it. But I know there are some who do not, and that for some of you, coconut butter might be something new and unfamiliar. And really, it is so easy, anyone can do it, it just takes a tiny bit of patience, and 5 minutes of your time. Time is valuable in our busy lives, I know I would rather be playing yet another rousing game “Busytown” with my kids than always being in the kitchen. Lets also consider it costs upwards of $8 for a jar in the grocery store! This is a much more frugal option, and a very attainable luxury.
I remember when I first discovered coconut butter. My sister and I had purchased a jar of this not even knowing the difference between coconut oil and coconut butter. (We figured they were same!). Coconut oil is just the oil,and coconut butter is all the coconut flesh INCLUDING the oil!! We simply wanted to make a recipe of Samoas, and the recipe called for it. But at one taste…we were hooked. And you will be too. Trust me.
Here are some recipes to try using coconut butter:
- Toasted Coconut & Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Fudge Torte w/ Raspberries
- Smoothies (many of which use coconut butter or could!)
Here are some other ideas:
- as a replacement for nut-butter
- as a replacement for fat in baked goods
- a frosting
- mixed with some cocoa powder for decadent sweet fix
- in smoothies
In what ways do you like to use coconut butter? Do you have recipes you could share with us in the comments using this treat?
Yield: About 2 cups
2 bags, or a minimum of 4 cups unsweetened, dried, grated coconut..AND THAT IS IT!
It is important not to use less than 4 cups, you need the volume to get the whole mixture moving.
Getting started
Time to scrape the sides!
Option 1 in a Blend Tec or other high-powered blender: Place coconut in and turn the machine on to level 1 or 2. The mixture will quickly climb the sides and leave a empty space around the blade (image at right). Turn off, scrape the sides down, and repeat this process, many times! Eventually, the heat from the machine starts releasing the oil, and the mixture will start to move freely without any scraping. Once liquified and running smoothly (below), puree for about a minute or two until silky smooth! Store in an airtight container in the pantry. Once cooled, the butter will harden.
Option 2 w/ a Food Processor: This is the same process as above, however, it will take longer to get to the liquified state, so you will need to use a bit more patience and few more repeats of the steps!
Liquified and running smoothly
If you add some coconut oil to the mixture, it will be slightly more spreadable at room temp. I prefer to just heat the butter slightly for 20 seconds in the microwave, or when it is actually warm outside in NW, this takes care of itself!
In this picture, the coconut butter is still warm, and therefore pourable!
This post was shared with Make Your Own Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Monday Mania, The Better Mom’s Linky, Made From Scratch Mondays, Tasty Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth & Soul, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,Gluten Free Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, What’s Cooking Wednesdays, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Kids in the Kitchen,This Chick Cooks, Cast Party Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Thriving on Thursdays, Full Plate Thursday, Fight Back Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Foodie Friday, Freaky Friday,Wellness Weekend
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When her third child was born with severe food allergies, Tessa took to the kitchen to figure out how to feed her family well. Always up for a culinary challenge, their journey has taken many twists and turns! Lots of Paleo, and lots of top 8 free. Good food for families, that's what she's about!
Wow, what a helpful post! i knew that coconut oil was an amazing superfood (that makes incredible frosting
) but i didn’t know about coconut butter! I didn’t know the difference either!! i definitely need to try this! Thanks for sharing!
OMG! So simple and cost effective. I love Coconut butter. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Enjoy it karen!
We are still bying ours, but with the price of it, I know we need to start making it. It is really expensive and I can see why some people find it cost prohibitive to use it. Thanks for this super easy and cost effective method!
My pleasure france!
I always buy it as well, but it is so darn expensive. Thanks for teaching me how to make my own coconut butter-I bet it tastes amazing so fresh!
And after you make it, you’ll wonder why you hadn’t before Laura!! Enjoy!
I’m so glad you decided to post this. I’ve never heard of coconut butter. I am very excited to give it a try though. I even pinned it to try out sometime this week. Thanks so much for sharing with Hearth and Soul!!
yay Elsa!! So glad i get to introduce you to this little gem, I just know you will swoon right along with me..let me know how it turn out for you!
Knew about coconut milk, oil, but never about coconut butter. wow! Thanks a lot for this post!
See Minnie, I KNEW I needed to post this! I sometimes forget that I am very well-exposed in to all tings healthy in the food work and take for granted everyone else is the same! Love to hear what you think after you make it~!
Wow! That is so easy! We have been buying it in the store, and you are correct…it’s not cheap! We use it for special occasions. Please do feel free to share it on our recipe carnival this week. It is open until midnight Wed. ☺
Great post Tessa. You make it look so easy. It’s definitely something I want to try.
Please do Laureen…you will not be disappointed! And it IS easy!
I’m one who had NO idea! thanks – needed the post & thanks for linking with my readers at Kids in the Kitchen! pinned and tweeted!
I am surprised by how many people are discovering it via this post, and OH so excited to introduce you ll to something so utterly amazing! I realized I forgot to post a couple of easy adpatations…..blend with fresh mango or strawberries or cocoa powder!
There is so much talk about the nutritional value of coconut this was really interesting. Thanks for sharing it and your other recipes on foodie friday.
Hi Tessa,
I am really having a problem getting passed your code today, I have tried 4 times on the Blondies and it still wont let me by.
Your Coconut Butter looks awesome! Hope you are having a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
YUM! Do you ever put anything in it (salt, etc.) to season it for spreading?
No Michaela, but you could if you wanted! Let your tastebuds be your guide! I HAVE however, blended it with fresh strawberries, or cocoa powder, or fresh mango for a different flavor….YUM!! The fresh fruit will shortent the life of the that butter, so only make a small amount if you do that (blend it separately in a food processor. The cocoa is fine though!
I LOVE homemade coconut butter! I find that with a VitaMix, you only need 2 cups coconut (I used the tamper to keep it from creating that hole in the middle, which seems to work). My favorite recipe is a coconut bark I made a couple of years ago, to which I added carob and spices. But I’ve been playing with coconut butter-based frostings recently, and am loving the results!
That tamper is probably the key…the blend tecs one drawback ricki! That coconut bark
LooksSO good….I would like some now…my waist line would not!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I make coconut milk, use coconut oil, but never knew about coconut butter! Thank you for sharing it!
I tried this last weekend and just could not get it to work. I have a high powered food processor that I make peanut butter in all the time that I used to try this. It kept looking like it was about to change into something smooth and liquid-y but it just never did. Off and on for 1/2 hour (I was persistent!
But in the end it was just more finely ground coconut. I even added a touch of coconut oil towards the end to see if it might help it make the transition.
Any thoughts why it might not have worked?
How frustrating Sharon!! I am sorry! What type of coconut did you use? (brand and type) If this didn’t work, it would have to be that!! I use Let’s DO Organic Unsweetened Coconut, it is linked in the post, but lots of natural foods stores carry it, about 3 or 4 dollars a bag. Online I pay 2 something. Others brands would certainly work! Was it a low fat one you used? Pretty sure that wouldn’t work, as you need the oils to be released to get it creamy.
I live in eastern Europe, so it was some brand that I’m sure you don’t have in the States.
There was nothing on it that made me think it was low fat, but I’ll see if I can try again with another brand and see if I can get it to work!
Thanks!
I use coconut oil all of the time, but had never even considered coconut butter. I can’t wait to try it! Too bad I didn’t know about it sooner! I have been working in a nut-free school for the past two years but I’m changing jobs in the fall. Coconut butter would have been great on those “Oh no! What am I going to eat for lunch?…I’ll just make a PB and…oh…” mornings.
bummer Sam! Sunflower seed butter is another favorite in our nut free house for pbj’s!
I made coconut butter this weekend for the first time and my hubby wont stop eating it! It did take a while in my food processor, but worth it. I noticed my store only carries “reduced fat” coconut – do you know if this will work or should I drive farther to the health food store for the regular? Thanks for sharing this!
Hi Paige!i agree with your husband, I could eat this stuff all the time! I would hazard a guess that low fat would not work. Since much of the oil has been removed, there wouldn’t be enough oil released to liquefy it. I order mine online, it is a great deal that way! There is a link in the post if you are interested, and iherb.com is another great place And you only have to spend 20 to get free shipping, plus if you click the badge in my side bar, you get $5 off your first order! We go through it pretty quickly, so bulk is the best deal for us.
I have a food processor and a vitamix, and I make this in the food processor – my tip is I hold the processor while it’s running and shake it! That way you don’t have to keep stopping to scrape the sides down…
I smack my blend tec around for that too!! Thanks for sharing your tip!
Hi, I have made this and I stored it in the fridge, is that necessary? I’m finding I don’t use it much because it’s so hard to remove from the container.
Most definitely not, it solid at room temp. I warm it slightly either in microwave or a warm water bath to soften. Check out my Decadent Chocolate Raspberry Torte for a great use of your butter! I also love adding it to my smoothies for healthy fat and delicious flavor. Thanks for your question sandy, if you need more ideas for how to use it, let me know!
Here’s a fun trick: toast the coconut a little on a sheet pan in the oven before you make it into butter… Just when you thought coconut butter couldn’t get any better
Awesome idea Lisa! I LOVE toasted coconut.
Recipe sounds great. Do you think I could do this with fresh grated coconut or do I need to use the dried so the water content is out? I live overseas and while I can sometimes by dried unsweetened it is by no means inexpensive. On the other hand – we buy monster sacks of coconuts when driving south to north and I grate them out and freeze the meat so I have bags of fresh coconuts lying around.
Hi Robin, great question. I am pretty sure this would not work with fresh coconut meat. You could however find out how to dry it out in your oven if you have it shredded already. I think with fresh it would be more a very rich coconut milk. If you DO try it, let us know so others can benefit from your experience.
This is THE BEST coconut butter tutorial I’ve found! This time my coconut butter actually turned out BUTTERY! YAY!
awesome Shannon, so glad you found it helpful!! I so adore coconut butter!! now what are you going to do with yours??!!!
Ok, so I tried this in both my food processor and then transferred to my KitchenAid blender. I couldn’t get it to work. For like an hour and a half. Just very fine, like macaroon coconut. The machine definitely got warm, the coconut feels moist and oily. I wanted to use it for a coconut frosting.
Do I just need to use a different blender? Would an immersion blender work?
Otherwise, this looks fantastic. I am someone who didn’t even know coconut butter existed. Thanks!
Ok, so just realized that I was supposed to use dried coconut. I really wanted to try a fresh coconut and didn’t realize it wouldn’t work. Grr… so I guess I’m gonna dehydrate my coconut and try again another day. I was thinking it was going to come out so creamy, but I know better now.
Hi Carlaena! You will LOVE coconut butter!! I am glad I could introduce you to it! I totally admire your diligence too: 1.5 hrs! Wow…I am impressed! There is too much water content in fresh coconut to make a butter. But you have made a a super fine grated coconut it would seem!! I have luck with making my own coconut milk using fresh…quite delish, and throwing some in smoothies in another treat. If I can help in anyway, let me know!
Hello all,
I just was referred t this recipe/blog from another I frequent for Ninja Blender advice. I LOVE COCONUT FLAVOR. I hate pieces of coconut. My question is with this recipe, when completed, will it be a creamy consistency or will there be coconut bits still left? Can anyone answer this for me? Thank You
just a bit…there is slight grainy texture.
I use freshly grated coconut that I dry in a dehydrator. My butter doesn’t come out white though. It is a light beige color. Is this because it is not commercially dried? My butter doesn’t harden but stays a thick liquid. I sometimes pour off some of the oil before I stir it up to use it. It does taste delicious.
hmm…no idea. It is possible the fresh coconut browns?Do you live in a warm climate? It sounds as if there is more oil in your mixture…a mystery1 I would need to recreate your version to troubleshoot Meady!
Yes, I live on Guam. I husk some coconuts every Sunday for the following week. I’m thinking that the commercially dried coconut might have some of the oil removed during processing.
It just might….and they may use a different variety, mature vs young too! Coconut oil and butter stay soft in warm temperatures, I just live in the us NW, so we are much cooler here. On hot days in the summer, it is much softer…but never with a layer of oil on top….
could i put this in no bake cookies? i love them, but i haven’t been able to eat them since I’ve become allergic to peanuts..
Thank you so much for this post i didn’t realize it was so eay to make this!!
Hi violet! Yes, this could easily make a no-bake cookie, but the recipe would need to be worked with a bit to bind and achieve the texture you are familiar with. have you ever tried sunbutter? That would be the closest thing to sub peanut butter with….I also have a post on how to make your own there too!
Thanks so much for posting this! I had no idea how to make it myself. How long will the butter last? Do you have a recipe for coconut cream?
quite a long time amy! Coconut is very high in antioxidants! Coconut cream and coconut butter are the same thing…at least to my tastebuds!