Almond Butter

So last week I made a small batch of cinnamon almond butter.  It is absolutely delicious!

This almond butter is great to add to a breakfast smoothie (like this one from Farm Fresh & Active), to eat with celery or just to spread on something delicious!  I've even stirred a bit into my oatmeal.

And it is super easy to make!  All you need is a food processor (or a pretty tough blender) and some almonds.  I've made this in both my GE Personal Blender (like a magic bullet) and my food processor, depending on the size of the batch - the larger batch is too large for the personal blender.  You could also add cinnamon (yum!) or dark cocoa powder (double yum!).   

 Here is my personal blender - this was too big a batch for the personal blender.   I used 1 cup of oven roasted almonds in the small batch - and it was perfect.   For today's large batch I used 1.5 cups.  I like the Oven Roasted almonds - these have sea salt, but I would probably get unsalted the next time.  Your homemade almond butter is less sweet than store bought butters because it has no added sugar - it also has no preservatives or chemicals!  

I transferred these to the food processor because the blades kept getting hung up - there just wasn't enough room for the almonds to move around in the smaller blender.   If you want to add cinnamon - add it with the almonds - I used 1/2 tsp of cinnamon for 1 cup of almonds.  

 Whirl all the almonds (and cinnamon or cocoa powder).  It will seem like forever.  First it chops up the almonds, then it gets a bit powdery.  You might find it sticking to the blade.   It doesn't hurt to stop and scrape down the sides/clean off the blade.

The next stage is that it will start to get crumbly - like a crumb topping with some sticking together.  Again, scrape down the sides and the blade.

 Be patient.  It will start to stick together but it takes time - several minutes for a pretty good processor.  My little one takes about 6 minutes total.   Scrape down your sides and blend a little more after it starts to look like butter.

 Delicious!     My 1.5 cups of almonds made a half-pint jar of almond butter.  I store it in the fridge and use it about a tablespoon at a time. 

This plan of making the nut butters works with almonds, peanuts and other nuts!  I want to make it with cashews next.