Almond Butter

Peanut butter is one of my all-time favourite things. 

So almond butter seemed oh-so intriguing, especially since I have been seeing it everywhere.

I am by far not the first (but I probably won’t be the last, either!) person to post about almond butter, but I fell in love with it and it happened to be a successful experiment.

This was a week when I really didn’t have the time to plan and make a whole meal, so I decided it was time to finally give it a go.

This is insanely simple and, as my dad says (say in an exaggerated southern American accent) “finger-lickin’-good!”
I think I would have eaten the whole boxful with a spoon and I had it at breakfast almost every day. It has a much more satisfying and deep flavour than store-bought nut butters. Everyone loved it, and at the end, when there was just a bit left, my sister and I actually did spoon out and eat the sticky, warm, creamy butter with gleeful smiles on our faces.

(Think 3 year-olds guzzling a bagful of sugar-coated gummy worms...) 

Almond Butter can be made plain (just the almonds), or you can add one of the myriad different flavouring options: honey, sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, or you can make an interesting spicy butter with cumin, chili powder and cayenne. If you’re fond of chunky butter, stir in some chopped almonds.

I went for a simple sweet n’ salty taste and that made it very versatile.

Almond Butter

2 Cups Plain Almonds

1 Tablespoon Honey

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

First, roast the almonds by spreading them in a flat layer on a baking sheet and baking them at around 200C. It won’t take more than 8-12 minutes, depending on how brown you want them. They should be at least light golden in colour, but no darker than tree brown, or else they’ll get burnt. Take out the tray, flip the almonds once you’re happy with the colour, and put them back in. The darker they are, the smokier your butter will be. Mine roasted for quite a while and came out brown, so my butter was dark in colour but had a lovely richness.

Lighter almonds will give you a lighter colour and a rawer taste-- both can be nice and it’s worth giving each a try.

It’s a good idea to let the almonds cool before blending them.

Place the almonds in a food processor and start blending. The time it takes varies entirely depending on the power of your blender. Mine were done quite quickly-- definitely not 10 minutes like I read in the recipe.

You know it’s done when the almonds have formed a thick, oily paste. It may seem oily enough, but do add a drizzle of oil as the almond butter will solidify. 

Add the oil and whatever seasoning you want and blend again.

Scoop it out into an airtight container to store. Many recipes say to keep it in the fridge, but mine stayed fine in the shade on the counter and I kept it for a little over a week. I guess it depends on the climate, how solid your butter is and how you like it.

My almond butter became quite solid towards the end, which made it harder to spread. Maybe it always happens, or maybe I didn’t add enough oil.... any of you made almond butter? If so, let me know!