The Tuesday following Thanksgiving, I experienced Christmas a little early: my sample package from Premier Organics arrived full of raw, organic Artisana nut butters!

According to their website, the folks at Artisana believe in sustainable living; minimizing our collective impact on the Earth; and through our community, supporting the organic and living foods movements, the Earth and her forests.

Included were the following: single serving packets of cashew, walnut, pecan, almond, macadamia, coconut oil, coconut butter, and cacao bliss as well as 8-oz jars of cashew butter and coconut butter.

First up, their raw pecan butter. I’m a Southern girl, so it goes without saying that pecans are my favorite nut. For an after-dinner snack, I slathered half a sample pouch onto some homemade pumpkin bread. The bread is sweet and cinnamon-y, so it overpowered the pecan flavor a bit.

For breakfast the next day, I topped half of a whole wheat English muffin with the remainder. This was a much better vehicle for the creamy, sweet butter. This butter is actually a mixture of cashews and pecans; the cashews lent smoothness, but I wish the pecan flavor had shone through a bit more.

I tried the sample of raw cashew butter next. If pecans are my favorite, then cashews are my next favorite! As a child, I always picked the cashews out of the mixed nuts.

Spread onto some apple slices, this butter didn’t disappoint. The cashew flavor was lovely and well-pronounced, while creaminess made me feel like I was eating something decadent and bad for me. I love that I received a whole jar—it’s as if the folks at Artisana know me. 🙂

I also discovered—after reading the jar’s label—that cashews are an excellent source of iron. I knew this about pumpkin seeds, but not cashews. They say you learn something new every day.

I decided to try the almond butter on a banana. While I liked the consistency, the flavor didn’t “wow” me. It’s actually my first time trying raw almond butter, but I guess I prefer roasted almond.

I melted some of the coconut butter onto a baked sweet potato. I enjoyed the unadulterated coconut flavor; it was smooth and complimented the potato’s natural sweetness quite well.

I squeezed the walnut butter onto a banana. Like the pecan, this butter contained cashews. The butter was creamy but contained some crunchy bits of walnuts throughout. If you aren’t a fan of walnuts and their slightly bitter aftertaste, you probably won’t enjoy this butter; I, however, loved the pure walnut flavor, which wasn’t overpowered by the cashews. This butter would be a delicious base for a salad dressing.

I felt the macadamia butter tasted very similar to the cashew butter, which makes sense, as this butter is a blend of the two. The butter was delicious on its own, but when I added it to my oat bran, I didn’t notice much flavor. It did add a nice creaminess to my breakfast, though.

If anything lives up to its name, it’s Cacao Bliss. I used half the packet on my oat bran (cooked with half a banana and topped with chia seeds), and I felt like I was eating dessert. Raw cacao is pretty new to me, and I must say, I loved it. The richness of the cacao and tropical coconut scent made me feel like I was at the beach instead of my work desk. My only complaint was the crumbly consistency, but that was due to the cool temperature and inability to really mix the butter. It did melt oh-so-nicely on the oats, however. Blissful indeed.

Last but not least: the coconut oil. Rather than roast or sauté vegetables, I decided to bake some nut clusters. Inspired by Edible Perspective, I tossed raw pecans, almonds, and pumpkin seeds in a mixture of the melted oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, and sea salt. While the coconut flavor wasn’t pronounced, the oil itself had a beautiful, coconut-y scent. When I tasted the oil right from the package, it had a very mild flavor that would lend itself well to a variety of dishes.

All in all, I was very satisfied with Artisana. When my absurd collection of nut butters is emptied, I’ll purchase some of my favorites: Cacao Bliss, walnut butter, and cashew butter. Though a bit pricier than your average nut butter, the quality of this product makes it worth the extra expense.

**I received free samples of Artisana nut butters to review for this blog. I was not compensated for this blog post, and all opinions are my own.**