What even is coconut butter?

If you have ever asked this of yourself, you're going to be angry when you see this recipe.

I can't tell you how many Paleo recipes call for coconut butter, but I can say this: it's a LOT.  

Anyway, if you've ever tried finding it at the store and you're like me, you probably ended up just choosing a different recipe because the stuff sells at around $11 for a 16oz jar (that's two cups. No thank you).  

However, if your store sells coconut butter, I'm sure it's got shredded coconut as well.  My grocers sell this for about $3-4 per pound... which just so happens to make 2 cups of coconut butter.  

$3 vs. $11?  I'll take the former!

Make your own Coconut Butter

Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 0 minutes   Total time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 cups

Directions

Ingredients

1.  Dump the bag of shredded coconut into your food processor or high-powered blender, such as a Vitamix.

2.  Close the blender/food processor and turn it on.  Keep the machine running until the shreds eventually liquefy.  I use a food processor and it takes about 8-10 minutes.  Other blogs like Stupid Easy Paleo say that it doesn't take as long in a Vitamix.  Both will result in a delicious cream that you can use in any recipe calling for the stuff.

3.  Store in a container you can close and refrigerate!  It will solidify in the fridge (coconut oil is solid at 76ºF) but you can simply melt it again in the microwave or on the stove.

*Note:  If you have trouble getting the shreds to liquefy and you know it's been processing for at least 10 minutes, try adding a bit of coconut oil to soften it up.

1 lb shredded coconut

MAYBE a bit of coconut oil

 

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