Almond Butter

I've been on this almond craze lately and just can't get enough of it...hand me a jar of almond butter and a spoon, all of it will disappear. Why hadn't I thought of making this earlier? Taking in a big spoonful of this almond butter brings me down Memory Lane. mmm the good ol' days.

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my days now too, but there's been this exponential increase in responsibility that I'm not sure I'm ready to face. C'mon schools, what you should be teaching us should include things such as: paying taxes and bills, buying and renting property, renewing passports... perhaps even a bit of home ec. education? Thank you very much. 

Life skills, becoming street smart, using sharp knives... 

Back to almond butter though. With all this summer free time in my hands, I've been able to get bunches of cardio into my schedule. This almond butter has been by far, my favorite post-workout snack. There's just something oh-so-special about homemade nut butters! 

After I toasted the raw almonds, our home was filled with the warmest nutty aroma evahhh! Look at those cute little cracks in the nuts.

Let me just briefly explain each step: 

1. Unprocessed state.
2. Chopped almonds.
3. Oils starting to come out.
4. Almonds taking on its butter/liquid-y form.
5. Down below is the beautiful butter created after that massive load of hard work. ha ha

I really do hope you enjoy your homemade almond butter!

Ingredients: yields approximately 1 1/2 cups
2 cups raw or toasted whole almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon (opt.)

Directions:

1. If using raw almonds, toast over the stove for about 15 minutes on low fire, or until your home is filled with a nutty aroma and the nuts begin to split. If using pre-toasted almonds, go ahead and skip to step 2.
2. In a food processor, process the whole almonds until the desired consistency. Do not be discouraged at any point if your almonds are taking a while to get to its liquid state--just keep processing! 
3. Once the almonds are almost in its butter form, add in the salt and continue processing until salt is thoroughly incorporated into the almond butter.

Notes:
- If you desire to sweeten your almond butter, add some honey. However, this will dry out your almond butter, so you will need to add some oil.
- You can always make raw almond butter, although I find that it is not as tasty as the toasted almond version.
- Do not over toast the almonds; it will result with a more bitter butter.
- My almonds did not become almond butter until about 20 minutes later. Your processor may result with varying times. 

With love,
Grace