Roasted Pine Nut Butter

Earlier this week I joked that I have been busier than ever since I lost my job, I imagine this must be what retirement feels like. I'm very thankful that I have a little cushion and some time to recover before I take another job, at the same time I don't want to lose that feeling of a regular schedule. Essentially, I don't want to have become lazy when it is time to go back to work. I also feel like this is my little window of opportunity to really see what I can do with this site. So between being here, a few little writing assignments, small projects, and a bit of volunteering I have created myself a schedule to hold myself accountable. It took me a while to get to that point and let go of everything that happened at my job, but once I did an amazing thing happened...I started sleeping! Well, I thought I was sleeping before, in fact I thought I was sleeping a lot. It turns out that laying in bed for 8 hours does not count as sleeping. So, with all my new found time and energy I am excited to be back here and working toward something new and exciting. I'm thankful that many of you are still here on this journey with me even if I have been a bit sporadic in my posting over the last year or so. I'm going to try and be better about that.
So that brings me to Pine Nut Butter. I really questioned whether I should make this, and even after I made it I questioned whether I should post it. The price of pine nuts is ridiculous at almost $30 a pound. This isn't something you are going to eat every day, and you certainly won't be spreading a thick layer on toast like you would peanut butter. One small taste and I think you will see that it is indeed worth it. I couldn't believe that flavor. I do caution you to be careful when roasting your pine nuts and watch them carefully. I can't imagine the frustration of burning something so expensive. This butter is incredibly rich and flavorful, a very little goes a long way. I have some plans for the batch I made including a sauce similar to peanut sauce for pasta. It would also be great as the base layer on crostini, maybe adorned with a little basil and tomato. For now I have been eating a little on the end of a tasting spoon every so often and that seems to be a good way to go too!

Roasted Pine Nut Butter
adapted from Cooking Light

2 cups of pine nuts
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour pine nuts onto a large baking sheet, shake sheet to make sure they are in one even layer. Please note the pine nuts burn easily, you will need to check on them every 5 minutes or so and shake the pan so the bottoms do not burn. It will take close to 45 minutes for them to get nice and brown, but the bottoms will burn quickly if left unattended. You will want the pine nuts as brown as you can get them without burning. Remove pine nuts from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.
Place roasted pine nuts, canola oil, and sea salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process until completely smooth. Store covered and refrigerated for up to one month.