A Nutty Suggestion

When a recipe calls for ground nuts, be careful not to overprocess them or the nuts’ oils will be released, and you’ll wind up with nut butter. Instead, for evenly ground (but not liquefied!) nuts, try using the following rule of thumb: Use no more than 2 cups of nuts at a time and process in 3-second intervals, checking the texture as you go, until the mixture is finely powdered. For particularly oily nuts like pecans or cashews, add a small amount of flour or bread crumbs to absorb excess oil.