Have you ever made your own nut butter at home?  This was a first for me but it will not be the last.  It was insanely easy, completely satisfying, and utterly delicious!   Being able to control your own ingredients is a fantastic lesson in what is not needed in the products we all grew up buying. 

This recipe does require a food processor.  Mine is just an inexpensive variety from Walmart about four years ago.  And it worked just fine.  But you really cannot do this without one unless you have one of those fancy pants, super expensive, turbo blenders. 

You can also add and subtract ingredients as your tastes prefer.  It would be delightful as a gift if you added chocolate- either in chip form or melted- to make sort of a Nutella type product.  I plan to add some raisins the next time too.  And do note...no oil is used.  Just the natural oils from the almonds. 


Step #1: Buy raw almonds.  These are almonds that have not been toasted/roasted and have no seasoning.  I picked up a bag at Trader Joes that contained 3 cups of raw almonds and was about $5.




Step #2: Place almonds on a cookie sheet in a single layer.  Roast in oven @350 until you can smell them.  It's about 10 mins.  But be careful as they can quickly burn so you need to check them often at the end.




Step #3: Once roasted, allow to cool a bit and then toss them into your food processor.  Turn on.  The first 30 seconds will sound like bloody murder.  Hang in there.  Before the first minute is up, you will have this.  Almond meal.




Step #4: This is at about the three minute point.  The meal starts to climb the sides.  I scraped it down with a spatula a few times.




Around the five minute mark the meal turns to paste.  Just scrape down sides when necessary.  But keep that puppy on otherwise. 




Around the seven minute mark, the paste starts to ball up.  A good sign that the oils are starting to come out and mix with the dry meal.  Just keep going.




Step #5: Once it turns into actual almond butter.  And this happens around the 15 minute mark so be patient!  Then you can add your goodies.  Or not.  It is perfectly delicious at that point without any extra flavors.  But I decided to add vanilla bean and a few others. 

If using vanilla bean, scrape the seeds out.  Save the pods to dry and add to a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar though!  If using vanilla extract, just skip this step.




Step #6: Add vanilla bean seeds (or a splash of extract), brown sugar, maple syrup and salt.  Let run another minute or two until well incorporated.




And you're done!  Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.  It won't last that long, though!




Or package in small jars to be used in a swap or gifts.  Just be sure to tell the recipients that it must be refrigerated.  When things don't contain extra stabilizers such as oils and chemicals, their shelf life is but a fraction of time a commercial product will last.




Vanilla Bean and Brown Sugar Almond Butter

Ingredients:
* 3 cups raw almonds
* 1 vanilla bean (or vanilla extract)
* 2 tbls packed brown sugar
* 1 tsp pure maple syrup
* pinch of Kosher salt


** You can certainly add and subtract ingredients as you so desire.  If you want your butter to be more liquid, add a little more syrup.  You can also add different flavorings such as raisins, dried cranberries or chocolate.  Be creative!