Homemade Almond butter? Yes!

I have a confession to make. I don't like to try new things because I'm afraid I will fail. Every once in a while, I will branch out, be brave and try something new. Some time ago, I got brave and I tried making my own almond butter. You know what...it is so easy!

Now, I have been making my own almond butter for a while. I thought I would share with you how easy it is. I'm sure you could use this for other nut butters, since I actually got the idea from here where she is using peanuts. So without further ado here is a picture blog of how I do my almond butter.

 I use 2 cups of unsalted, dry roasted almonds bought in bulk at Whole Foods. You put the almonds in your food processor. Make sure you put the blade in first. I can.not. tell you how many times I've had to dump the almonds out of the processor bowl because I forgot to put the blade in. Once the almonds, and blade, are in the processing bowl turn it on and plug your ears. It is pretty loud for about 20 seconds. If you have others around you warn them there is a loud noise coming :)

 This is after about 30-45 seconds of processing. The almonds sort of look like course sand. At this point I stop the processor and scrape the sides down. I'm not sure you have to at this point, I just do.

You can see the almonds are a bit finer and are starting to clump together a little bit. I scrape the sides down again.

Here we have it a little bit more clumpy and you can see a change in the color. It is a bit darker that is because the oils are starting to release....scrape down and keep going. While you let it process this next time melt about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil. I have used both extra virgin and the more processed kind. The extra virgin will give just a hint of coconut flavor to your finished product.

It is really starting to stick together now and you can even see the sheen of some of the oil that has been released. Again scrape down. This time while you are scraping make sure you scrape up what is sticking to the bottom of your processing bowl as well. 

This is about 1/4 of a cup of melted coconut oil. I only use about 2 tablespoons.

If you can slowly pour the oil while the nut butter is processing and you don't need to process it long after you have added the oil, just until the oil is fully incorporated.

See how smooth and creamy it is. It is actually quite fluid at this point, which makes it easy to get it into the jar!

I have started saving jars and this is one I had on hand. Once you have finished mixing the oil in the butter simply add your butter to your jar and store it in the 'frig.

My 2 cups of almonds made about 1 1/4 cups almond butter. I do store it in the refrigerator for a couple of reasons 1) I think it will keep better, though honestly it doesn't last long around here and 2) it makes the almond butter a bit thicker consistency when it is cold. You will notice that your almond butter gets softer the longer it is out of the refrigerator.

So there you have it. It might look like a lot of steps but it really isn't. It literally takes about 5 minutes or so. If you decide to try your hand at this or another type of nut butter I'd love to know how it went. :)