Homemade Almond Butter

We love peanut butter in our house! It's a daily essential protein in each of our diets, including my 17 month old son. But, it's important to me that we eat the most natural kind of nut butters, with minimal ingredients and processing! My sister recently introduced me to the idea of making my own butter. So, she suggested making almond butter. Almonds are also an excellent form of protein, and are a tree nut, so good alternative for people and kids with peanut allergies. 

Here are the very simple steps to making your own almond butter!

-I bought a pound of almonds (they were on sale at Sprouts that week)

-place them on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

-let them cool (the smell of roasted almonds is heavenly)

-using a food processor or vitamix, ( we have a vitamix) add 1 cup of baked almonds at a time and mix until you get a smooth, creamy texture. It takes about a minute or so on high to get that consistency. 

-add a pinch of salt to the your mixture for taste. If you like your butter sweeter you can also add a little Stevia to your mixture. I just use salt (I like the  taste of plain, natural almonds)

-And Voila, homemade almond butter! How easy is is that?! Amazingly, the oils from the almonds are released when they are baked, so that is how you get the smooth creamy texture. I was facinated by that!! 

Instead of buying expensive, organic, raw, almond butter at Whole a Foods or Sprouts, you can make it yourself for a fraction of the price! Plus, you know exactly what's in your butter and it is not processed. So, give it a try!! 

Blessings,

Sarah