Palm Oil-Free MILLET BUTTER!!!

After finally facing the fact that Earth Balance, no matter how good their intentions, destroys rain forests and everything in them (http://ran.org/palm-oil Awww, orangutans!) for their palm plantations, I gave it up. If you know me at all, you know that butter, or any delicious butter substitute, is my worst downfall. I f#@%$ing LOVE IT!! Makes being an ethical vegan a tad difficult when every store bought butter substitute is made with stupid palm oil. Argh!

Once I gave it up I tried a recipe which called for sunflower oil and liquid lecithin whipped up in the blender and though it tasted...eh...OK, it broke down back to liquid really quickly and was essentially useless to me and my butter needs. 

I had read a few recipes for "butter" using millet, but only just now got around to trying one after my friend Careen was lamenting to me about palm oil being in freaking everything...IT IS! So frustrating! Anyway, I tried it and it came out really well and took literally 10 minutes to make! It doesn't taste exactly like butter, but it is an acceptable substitute. It's rich, creamy and delicious and I'm hoping after it has a chance to cool off overnight in the fridge, it will firm up too! Update to come. UPDATE: It did firm up nicely in the fridge overnight! Hooray!

I used the recipe from The Vegetarian Cooking Show and followed it precisely...imagine that!

Ingredients:

1/3-1/2 C millet cooked in 1 cup of water
1/2 cup raw cashews and 3/4 cup water
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower oil) This was listed as optional, but IMO it gives it that rich, buttery texture.

In your Vitamix or blender, put raw cashews and water, blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and keep blending until smooth. If adding oil, do it last, slowly adding while blender is going on high. 

That's it!!

It will keep in the fridge for about two weeks. In that time, spread it on bread, muffins, add it to pasta or rice, use it in recipes that call for butter...whatever! It's great!!

You'll notice in the photo below, my cat Boris, who is completely
O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with all things butter too, couldn't get to it fast enough!
I think we have a winner!

Borris: Butter FIEND!