Almond Butter

My kids don't really care for peanut butter, I know shocking right? I can't get them to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and the middle one won't even go near a Reese's peanut butter cup. Almond butter is a nice alternative and quite healthy too! I spent some time last week scanning the aisles of different stores and health food sections comparing prices, only to find that I would be shelling out $8 for a jar of this stuff. I don't know about you but I figured I could at least try making my own before I spend that much money, after all I wasn't sure if we would even like it.

I ended up purchasing some raw almonds from the bulk section at our local Hy-Vee, almonds are more expensive but I was able to get well over half a pound for around $3.00. I'm pleased to say we all loved the almond butter and I can't wait to experiment with different types of nut butter! I wish I would have toasted the almonds a little to add more flavor; I'll definitely make sure to do that next time. The food processor did all the work for me, it took all of 13 minutes and I was done. I added a little bit of cinnamon and vanilla for extra flavor and we've been enjoying our almond butter on cinnamon raisin bread with some homemade strawberry jam I had in the freezer. Yum! I hope you try this one out!


Almond Butter

Ingredients:
2 cups almonds, raw or toasted for about 10-15 minutes
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Place almonds in food processor, cover and pulse until coarse.

Keep pulsing it and scraping down the sides. After about 13-15 minutes it will turn into this wonderful smooth and creamy almond butter!  Add in the vanilla and cinnamon and blend just a little more. Feel free to substitute different spices, or just add a little bit of salt and call it good.

This is what it looks like when you're all done. Just transfer to a storage container and stick in the fridge. It should keep for up to 3 months....if it lasts that long!