Nut butters are a staple in my house, particularly almond butter, peanut butter and tahini. As with all seeds and nuts, nut butters are a great source of healthy fats, minerals and B-vitamins.
I like to make cookies or keto-friendly granola bars with my nut butters. They all pair well with chopped nuts, dark chocolate, shredded coconut or dried fruit. Of course, you can always spread it on low-carb bread, or eat it straight out of the jar, when you’re desperate for a quick snack.
PEANUT BUTTER
Although peanuts are technically legumes (not nuts), peanut butter is still relatively keto-friendly. Of all the nut butters, I find peanut butter makes the best “cookie-base”, maybe due to its higher protein content.
Keto peanut butter cookies only consist of three ingredients: 1 cup peanut butter + 1 large egg + ½ cup sweetener[1]. Press into 12 cookies, and bake at 180°C/350°F for about 10 to 15 minutes. Voilà … gourmet peanut butter cookies, at only 2g net carbs per cookie.
Peanut butter is also really inexpensive. Just be sure to look for a brand without additives and emulsifiers (just peanuts and salt).
ALMOND BUTTER
For a lower carb option, you can swap peanut butter for almond butter in your recipes. Works just as well, although almond butter tends to be a bit more oily, so you might have to add a little more dry flour.
The only drawback is cost, as almond butter is way more expensive than peanut butter. In Canada, I find Walmart’s Great Value house brand to be the best priced by far (about $5.50 for 340g jar). It also comes in a honey and sea salt version. The Kirkland-brand almond butter from Costco is also competitively priced, at about $12 for a 765g jar (although I’m not a fan of big jars in general, since I don’t consume food that quickly).
South of the border, Sam’s Choice is the Walmart house brand (also well priced), while Trader Joe’s has a great private-label version.
In contrast to peanut butter (which I tend to bake with), I usually eat almond butter straight out of the jar, or spread onto my low-carb bread. I find it very sweet on my palate, and too expensive to bake with.
TAHINI (SESAME PASTE)
Tahini is pureed sesame (technically a seed butter), and tends to be more “runny” than peanut or almond butter. It’s also a great alternative for those with nut allergies. Tahini is my “butter” choice in low-carb bread and cookies.
If swapping peanut butter for tahini in baked goods, be sure to add more flour to make the dough less sticky. Tahini is also less sweet than almond or peanut butter, so you may want to add more sweetener in your recipe. I never eat tahini “straight”, or spread it on my bread, since it has a slightly bitter after-taste.
You can make low-carb tahini bread with only two ingredients: 1 egg + 2 tbsp of tahini. It even puffs up in the oven. If you want to mask the bitterness of the tahini, add a teaspoon of honey, sweetener or low-sugar jam. If you want more rise, add some baking powder. For crunch and texture, add sunflower seeds. Don’t forget to add salt, since tahini is always sold unsalted.
Tahini is relatively easy to find at almost any grocery store in Canada, although you may have to look in the ethnic section (it is a staple in many Middle-Eastern countries). I like the Tamam brand, available at any Loblaws grocery chain across Canada. I stock up when it’s on sale, priced at about $6/kg.
When traveling in the US, I buy the organic version from Trader Joe’s.
Just one final note on tahini, since it is an imported food (usually from Lebanon), the nutrition labels are usually incorrect. Outside of North America, carb content does not include the fibre portion. In Canadian/US labels, fibre needs to be subtracted from total carbs, so nutrition labels are often translated incorrectly (this is a problem for most imported foods). So don’t be fooled by “zero-carb” tahini. Carb content should be similar to sesame seeds, which is about 1g net carb per tbsp (15 grams).
ZERO-CARB BUTTERS
Aside from “regular” dairy butter, cacao butter is all fat, zero-carb, and also great for making chocolate snacks, fat bombs and nut bars. It can be harder to source at regular grocery stores, although cacao butter is fairly easy to find online from specialty retailers.
In Vancouver, you can buy cacao butter at Whole Foods, Bulk Barn and The Real Canadian Superstore (in the organic section). It’s also available at Amazon Canada, but it ain’t cheap. Cacao butter runs at least $50/kg, which explains why dark chocolate is so expensive. So be sure to use very sparingly!
NOTE:
1 I would never use ½ cup of sweetener in any recipe (that’s about 100g). After being in ketosis for 5-years, that’s WAY too sweet for my palate, and make for very expensive cookies. My version would have only for about 5g of sweetener, 20g of coconut flour and a touch of xanthan gum to absorb some of the liquid. Yes, you can taste the peanut butter, and that’s perfectly okay with me.