Make Your Own Almond Butter

I love almonds. I love them raw. I love them roasted. I love them with cinnamon, cocoa, smoked. I just love almonds. 

Up until the last couple of weeks, when I've wanted a nut butter, I've always bought almond butter. I pay close attention to the labels & make sure they only use almonds in my almond butter, but sometimes it just doesn't taste good, ya know?   Two weeks ago, during one of our winter storms, I embarked on a mission to make my own. My first experience was okay, but I really wasn't satisfied.  I used already roasted almonds, purchased from a store. And it still didn't taste super fresh. So this week, I bought some raw almonds.

I measured out 1 cup.

And roasted my own!

   

All you have to do is spread almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in a cold oven. Turn oven on to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake almonds, stirring occasionally, until light tan and fragrant, 12 to 15 minutes. Be careful! The nuts will continue to cook after removing from oven.

I let them cool while I ate my breakfast this morning. And then popped them into my food processor. 

You'll go through several phases as they're processing. 

  

First, you'll get chopped up almonds. Then, it will look a little like almond "meal", basically a little gritty looking. After that, the oils will begin to release and it will start to stick to the sides of the food processor.  But...keep going. It's not ready yet!

  

It will kind of get thick & you'll notice heat coming off your food processor. No worries (unless the quality of your food processor isn't very good). The almonds are starting to break down, release their natural oils and make almond butter. (Mine started to ball up & I had to stop and break it apart.) At that point, I went about 5 more minutes, alternating between slow & fast. 

Finally, it started getting smoother. And the smell was positively divine!

And then...it was finished!!! I grabbed my scales & some 2 oz portion cups & divided it out 1 oz per cup. 

 

I now have six 1 oz servings of freshly ground almond butter! Make yours and let me know what you think!

Remember, when following the FirstFitness Nutrition program, you can enjoy 1/2 cup of almonds for a snack. Have some with a little celery! Yum!

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