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Any equipment suggestions for pureeing the nuts? My coffee grinder did not work so well. The kids had great fun when we tried it.

Either a food processor or a good blender should work. You just need to keep pureeing longer than you think--just when you figure it won't work it starts to become oily.

I made homemade peanut butter for my children and our family for many years, and we had fun doing it--and eating it, too. I usually roasted the nuts in the oven for a few minutes first back then, to avoid that "green" taste, and I added a tiny bit of sea salt while processing. We especially enjoyed the still-warm peanut butter on homemade whole wheat bread also warm, just out of the oven (that I ground the wheat fresh to make the bread) . All the children got involved and thought it was all a lot of fun. (That fun passed when they got older and it started seeming like "work" to them--and their friends were waiting for them to go outside and play! ) Your post brought back a lot of really good memories for me.

We also made almond butter, and sesame spread, and other nut butters. A pound of almonds, ground into butter, compared to the cost of a pound jar of almond butter in a health food store back then was amazingly inexpensive! (I haven't bought shelled raw almonds or priced almond butter for a long while, so I don't know if that is still true. )

I was fortunate to have a Champion Juicer, which works wonderfully well for nut butters. As Hope101 said, I think any good blender (with a strong motor) will also work. The VitaMix people provide a raw peanut butter recipe for their blenders.

Somewhere along the way, maybe the 80's (?), the peanut "fungus among us" scare hit and just didn't seem to go away or get resolved--a serious long-term, mold problem (aspergillus flavus, which produces the mycotoxin aflatoxin) continued with peanut supplies and I quit using peanuts in any form, and just never got back to using them ever again.

I have thought about for a long time now that many of the "allergies" and digestive problems that people attribute to various grains and nuts and seeds are caused possibly not by the elements/composition of the natural foods themselves, but by the commonly found molds and the mycotoxins the molds produce--especially in those foods that are stored long-term before shipping. (The widespread "Peanut Allergy", for example, which now requires labeling when peanuts are in a product, or nuts are even used in the same factory where a non-peanut product is also manufactured.) Just musing, here....

I will give my blender a try. My two girls (3 & 4 yo) love to watch and help out in the kitchen.

I add water to the peanuts when I grind them; the water makes it easier to grind, plus lower in fat. I read it in one of the books by Mary McD. My son loves cashew-nut butter. He actually likes it better now that we grind it ourselves plus water). It comes out smoother with the water. Just an idea. It still tastes great too. Plus, it still has plenty of nutrition for the children.

Li, how much water do you use compared to nuts? I will have to try your suggestion.

Carroll, my crumbs ran from the blade too, but if you keep pushing them toward the centre with a spatula and restarting your blender/processor, you are almost at the point it will liquify. Once that starts it will keep moving itself, kind of like a thick hummous.

Oh hope, I am so unscientific! I just "winged" it. I added enough water so, that the cashews would blend easily.

Have fun experimenting.

--Li