Ode to Almond Butter

Today was a first for me….making almond butter (or any butter for that matter).  I recently encountered a number of nut butter recipes from the Edible Perspective’s blog and was inspired to try one out. I chose roasted maple cinnamon almond butter. I love flavored nut butters (even non flavored…love) but they are usually kind of pricey. After checking my pantry…the only ingredient I was missing was maple syrup! It was as easy as that. Pick up maple syrup….be eating almond butter by lunch time. Here is the recipe:

• 1c Almonds
• 1.5T maple syrup
• 1T maple syrup
• 1/4t salt
• 1/2t cinnamon
• 1/2T oil

In the end, I actually ended up doubling this recipe since her blog suggested doing so. I’m glad I did because I even think double the amount will be gone in a week!!

First, I measured out about 2 cups of almonds. I had a bag of almonds from Trader Joe’s that traveled with us from Chicago…finally I was able to put them to use!!

Next, I poured the almonds into a mixing bowl along with 3 tablespoons of maple syrup.

I could have probably stopped here and been satisfied. Almonds covered in maple syrup? Yes, please! But I kept going….next, I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and dumped the almonds on it. I placed the almonds in the oven at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes.

I checked the almonds while they were cooking a couple times and mixed them up a bit. Didn’t want any burned almonds! They turned out just fine…smelled so amazing and literally was so hard not to eat them right then and there.

I let the almonds cool off for a bit…then put them in the food processor and let ‘er rip! I basically pressed the on button and let them blend until they were the consistency of…well…almond butter. It took about 15 minutes with a couple breaks to scrape the sides of the bowl.

When I finally achieved the right consistency….I added the salt, cinnamon, and 2 more tablespoons of maple syrup. Then I turned the food processor on again until it was back to being creamy. This took about 10 more minutes.

Finally, I streamed in 1 tablespoon of canola oil. In the original recipe, she used grapeseed oil but I didn’t have that (and I’m too cheap to go get it). I figured olive oil would leave behind too much of a taste…so I crossed my fingers and poured canola oil in!

Well, it turned out to be pretty darn delicious. It was a little warm when I poured it into the jar…which made it that much better! I can’t believe I successfully made my own almond butter. It really was a simple recipe and turned out so tasty. Thanks again to the Edible Perspective’s blog! She has so many great recipes and the most beautiful pictures to accompany them.

Yesterday was also day number three of Project Pig. I promise I will get into that a little more later…we have an overload of pictures to show you! Here is an “after” pic…rated PG (the “before” pics…maybe PG13?):