Nut butter twists

• Pistachio butter with cardamom• Cashew butter with ginger

• Almond butter with espresso syrup

• Peanut butter with toasted coconut and dried pineapple

• Pecan butter with toffee bits

• Peanut butter with cinnamon and raisins

• Hazelnut butter with chocolate

• Walnut butter with cinnamon

• Peanut butter with crisp, crumbled bacon

• Peanut butter with cayenne and garlic paste

• Roast the nuts to boost their flavor, before you turn them into nut butter.

• Use a full-size food processor, not a mini. You'll burn a mini's motor out before the butter is the right texture.

• If you use a blender for nut butter, spray the inside first with cooking spray.

• Most nut butters need a little oil. Add it slowly. You can always add more. But once it's in, there's no going back. Adding a little dairy butter, as well as oil, will give the spread nice flavor and texture.

• A little honey or agave syrup adds sweetness, without the grit of sugar.

• Despite what it says on the label, all classic supermarket peanut butter is creamy. If you're trying to replicate the texture of commercial chunky-style, make smooth peanut butter and mix nut bits in.

• For perfectly smooth nut butter, grind the nuts longer and give them a cooling-off period halfway through. The heat from the food processor helps the fat in the nuts melt, says Bruce Weinstein in the "Ultimate Peanut Butter Book." But at a certain point, the oils begin to separate: "If you want to be a perfectionist, as soon as it starts getting a little oily, let it cool off for an hour, then start again."