Home Made Almond Butter {a Recipe} (If you can call it that)

Hey, y'all!  You may remember this post where I talked about recipes using various crushed legumes.  Ever since making my own peanut butter (yum!), I've wanted to try making other nut butters.  Because, honestly, it's so easy (and yummy)--why not?



Mmmm...Home Made Almond Butter

So my cousin-in-law, who has been suggesting yummy vegan recipes for me to try...you know, just for fun, because we would have a full-scale revolt going on over here if I tried to make my family eat vegan...uses a lot of almond butter.  And I just happened to buy a 3 pound bag of almonds yesterday...

I can hear you now: ...and just how, dear Scarlet, did you just happen to buy a 3 pound bag of almonds? 

Well, you see, it was open house weekend at Sam's Club (still is, by the way), and I went looking for chia seed, because, you know, yum, and they didn't have any chia seeds, which was a huge disappointment, but in order to salvage the trip, I bought 4 items, only one of which was actually on my list, all from the same aisle, and it was the baking aisle, of course, and the almonds worked out to less than $4 per pound, which is a phenomenal price, so I bought 'em.  And promptly divided them up into 1 pound portions and put them in the freezer, because 3 pounds of almonds might last me 6 months (unless AKD gets ahold of 'em--then they'll last about 2 weeks).  I also have 2 pounds of walnuts (which will last significantly less time than the almonds) and 2 pounds of yeast (which will probably last til AKD's in college) in the freezer, along with 4.5 pounds of chocolate chips.  But that's a story for another time.

So!  As I was saying, I just happened to buy a 3 pound bag of almonds.  And I really don't know what came over me.  I was thinking about green smoothies, watching a show about hunger in America, and then all of a sudden I was making almond butter. 

And you can, too.  Here's what you need to do. 

You get some almonds.  And then, you whir them around in a food processor until they're the consistency you like.



First it becomes crumbly.  Keep going.



The almond butter forms a ball.  Keep going.



Finally, the oils release and the almond butter is done. 
Add a pinch of salt, sweetener, or other flavors (chocolate almond butter, anyone?)
or add a bit of oil to make it more spreadable.

 That is it, my friends.  If you like, you can add a bit of salt and/or the sweetener of your choice and/or a little bit of oil for a thinner consistency (I think coconut oil would be wonderful for this), but really, all you need to do is put almonds in a food processor (and might I add, I don't even have a very good food processor--just the el cheapo one from a mass merchandiser).



Num!

Enjoy!  Next up: cashew butter...