I love peanut butter, the creamier the better.

It's hard to find low sugar pb, for some reason. Don't know why a manufacturer hasn't picked up on this.

Have tried a few home-made recipes, but the end product always came out too oily and too chunky. The oil and peanut paste never really seemed to come together and stay together properly. "Stir the oil that comes to the top"--yuck!

Then I found a vid on youtube that showed how regular peanut butter is made in the factory.

Important difference: veg oil isn't used, hydrogenated vegetable shortening is (like Crisco, etc.) which explains why commercially made peanut butter is firm but not oily.

That gave me an idea: what about subbing lard for the hvs?

I melted the lard and added it to my peanut paste. It was quite loose but not oily and after a night in the fridge was nice and firm, like jarred peanut butter.

The drawback was that when spread on bread (double fiber) it kind of melted a little bit.

So I went back to the drawing board. What about beef dripping? And not melted when added to the peanut paste.

Not sure if beef dripping is available in the US (maybe on line), I buy it from the regular grocery store in the UK. It's much firmer at room temp than lard is.

The result was just brilliant, the texture and body as close to "real" peanut butter as home-made can be, I think. Or at least that I've ever made.

For those peanut butter lovers out there, here's the method:

In a small high-speed food processor, process 1-2 cup peanuts until a paste forms.

Soften but do not melt 2 tablespoons of beef dripping. (Microwave good for this step)

Add dripping to peanut paste and process on high until dripping is incorporated, stopping to check consistency and scrape down sides of processor.

When mixture is smooth add three drops sweetzfree (or to taste) and process again.

Pour peanut butter into a clean jar and put in fridge until peanut butter firms up. With dripping this will take less than an hour in a normal fridge.

Cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, mace, etc. can be added for flavouring. Also chopped peanuts can be added to make chunky peanut butter.

Makes approx 1 cup of peanut butter.

I spread this on a slice of Nature's Own Double Fiber bread (5 net carbs). Was very similar to commercial pb, stayed firm at room temp.

Sugar adds a sticky quality to the texture of regular peanut butter that maybe is lacking in this recipe, as there's no sugar in it. But the texture is mighty close.

Now it's just a matter of figuring out a no-sugar "J" to a PBJ!