A chocolatey nut butter with notes of honey-roasted cashews and cool peppermint—with only 6 ingredients, it’s incredibly easy to make and is the perfect addition to your morning toast, oatmeal, or yogurt bowl!

Most people get excited when spring rolls around because of the blooming flowers, the chirping birds, and the longer days, but to me, spring means one thing: Girl Scout cookies. Specifically, Thin Mints (frozen Thin Mints, if you’re feeling really fancy). In my opinion, there’s nothing better than a crisp, mint chocolate cookie (or heck, a whole sleeve), but with the end of Girl Scout Cookie season fast approaching, I decided to turn my favorite cookie into a nut butter! And not only is it incredibly easy to make, but it’s full of wholesome ingredients for a balanced, indulgent treat!

Why Make Nut Butter At Home?

Now, why would you make nut butter at home when you can just buy it at the store? I’ll be honest, I thought the same thing myself until I gave it a try. Not only is homemade nut butter cheaper than store-bought, but it’s made with simple ingredients, contains no artificial additives, and only takes a food processor to put together!

Ingredients You’ll Need

One of my favorite things about homemade nut butter is how adaptable it is—you can easily substitute the cashews with any nuts you have on hand, and you can customize the flavor profiles to your preference. For this flavor, you just need 6 ingredients:

Cashews. Cashews provide a subtle, toasty flavor that pairs perfectly with the peppermint. If you want to substitute them, you could use almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or pecans in their place. I wouldn’t recommend peanuts, since they have a strong flavor that may offset the mint.
Honey. To sweeten the cashew butter.
Cocoa powder. For a chocolatey flavor.
Peppermint extract. Make sure you use peppermint extract and not peppermint oil—these are two different ingredients that vary in strength of flavor.
Vanilla extract. Optional, to enhance the overall taste of the nut butter.
Salt. For seasoning and balance.

How to Make Nut Butter

You might not realize it, but making nut butter from scratch is super easy—with a food processor and three simple steps, you’ll have perfect, homemade cashew butter at your fingertips! Here’s how to make it:

Roast the cashews. Nut butters naturally contain a high fat content, so liquid sweeteners like honey tend to seize the mixture. To fix this, we’ll roast the honey and cashews before processing to remove excess water.
Process the nuts. Once the cashews have cooled slightly, place them into the food processor and let the machine run until a nut butter forms.
Add the salt, extracts, and cocoa powder. Once the flavorings are evenly incorporated, spoon the nut butter into a jar and use however you’d like!

Nut Butter Tips and Tricks

Though cashew butter is easy to make, there are some stumbling blocks that might get in your way. Here are my top tips!

Use a food processor. Trust me on this one—blenders are much more difficult to use and require you to scrape down the sides continually.
Let the processor run. The cashews will go through several stages before turning into a spreadable nut butter. This process can take up to 10 minutes, but don’t be alarmed! Just keep the processor running and it will thin out.
Don’t add any water or liquid. If you add any liquid to the nut butter, it will seize and form a lumpy mixture (that’s why we toast the cashews and honey first, to remove the water content). If you want a runnier nut butter, let the processor run longer or add some neutral oil to thin it out.
Use black cocoa powder for Oreo cashew butter! For a spin on this recipe, try black cocoa powder! It adds a nice, rich flavor reminiscent of Oreos that pairs well with the peppermint.

How to Serve Thin Mint Nut Butter

You could easily enjoy this nut butter by the spoonful, but here are a few of my favorite ways to use it!

Yogurt bowls. Try serving it with my homemade granola recipes—either plain, peanut butter, or pumpkin!
Toast, bagels, or muffins. For an easy breakfast or post-workout snack, add some sliced bananas and cinnamon on top.
Fruit. I prefer bananas and apples.
Smoothies. I recommend adding a tablespoon to my favorite chocolate smoothie with some crumbled Thin Mints for the perfect, protein-packed dessert!
Oatmeal. Dollop a spoonful onto your stovetop, microwave, or overnight oats for a boost of satiating fats.
Pancakes and waffles. I love using this perfect buttermilk pancake recipe!
Protein bars or brownie balls. These Elle Gibson brownie balls are all the rage on social media, and I have a feeling that this Thin Mint nut butter would be the perfect addition!
Ice cream. Vanilla, chocolate chip cookie dough, or mint chocolate chip would pair well.

still hungry? Check out some of my other nut butter recipes!

Be sure to tag me in your recreations—happy baking!