Orange Chocolate Cashew Butter

Name: Orange Chocolate Cashew Butter
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 cup cashews, (salted or unsalted); 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder; 3/4 tsp orange zest; 2-3 tsp coconut oil, (optional)

May 25, 2018 By Alyssa 27 Comments

Orange Chocolate Cashew Butter is made in minutes in the food processor for a creamy and delicious spread with no sugar added. Sub it in for peanut or almond butter in sandwiches, or serve it as a perfect dip for fruit or pretzels!

I’ve had total ants in my pants waiting to share this orange chocolate cashew butter with you. It’s a three (or four, more on that later) ingredient, just-a-few-minutes kind of recipe that will revolutionize your toast- and sandwich-eating. It couldn’t be easier.

What hasn’t been as easy? Actually sharing it with you! I don’t want to harp on the tech problems I’ve been having, but the extent to which they’ve escalated is almost laughable at this point. Unintended blog downtime last week, complete with a beef stir fry with balsamic peanut sauce post that vanished (and thankfully was resurrected).

Then my seven-year-old laptop starting giving me attitude with multiple blue screens of death (!!), and if the universe wasn’t cruel enough, I then broke our coffee maker. Because if there’s one thing that makes computer problems the slightest bit easier to handle, it’s caffeine.

And have I mentioned that this past week, our TV has turned itself on at top volume TWICE in the middle of the night? Lord help me.

So here it is – finally. Orange chocolate cashew butter in all its orange-y, chocolate-y, cashew butter-y goodness.

All you need for this orange chocolate cashew butter are a cup full of cashews, unsweetened cocoa powder, orange zest, potentially coconut oil, and a food processor.

First it becomes a crumbly mess, but don’t give up hope. With a little more processing (and a little more, and a little more…) it becomes less like cashew dust and more like cashew butter.

Since people run the gamut on preferred nut butter consistency, you have a few options to make this cashew butter your own. I like to start with processing the cashews, cocoa powder, and orange zest on their own. The cashews will release oil as you go and become creamier, ultimately ending up with a spreadable but fairly firm nut butter.

If you prefer the consistency of natural peanut and almond butters, at this point add a few teaspoons of coconut oil and process it in. You’ll quickly find that runny, smooth texture you like. I ended up adding between two and three teaspoons of coconut oil at the end to result in the consistency you see here.

This cashew butter makes a killer OM & OCCB sandwich. That would be an orange marmalade & orange chocolate cashew butter sandwich and OMG is it good. It’s a little bit fancier than your standard PB & J and makes me stare down the clock at work, willing it to hit 12 so I can run and grab it out of the fridge.

When you’ve got something this good in the house though, lunch can’t possibly get all of the love. Pretzels dipped in this stuff? Incredible! Ditto for pita chips, crackers, apple slices, strawberries…

The list goes on.

Recipe notes:

Both salted and unsalted cashews would work here. I prefer salted for the extra bit of flavor.
Be sure to scrape down the sides of your food processor as needed to ensure all of the ingredients are incorporated smoothly.
Scroll up a bit to read about what coconut oil does for the consistency here to decide if you’d like to add it.

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