After making almond butter at home, really there is no turning back. It’s crazy easy and the difference in taste compared to the store bought stuff is off the charts. Not to mention that you can add different flavors to the mix so naturally we decided to add chocolate. Well, not really chocolate…we added one of our favorite ingredients, cacao powder, but it tastes just like chocolate and it’s healthy. Winning!
You want to start by toasting the nuts, yes I said toasted nuts…stay with me men. You want to toast the almonds to bring out the oils and the flavor. So don’t forget to toast the nuts! Add the toasted nuts to a food processor and let it whirl. You need to be patient with this because at first it’s going to look like powdered nuts and nothing like almond butter. Stop the food processor once in a while to scrape down the sides. All of a sudden it’s like magic and the powdered nuts suddenly turn into butter…it’s really quiet exciting. I’m not even kidding, I get super excited when I see it come together. I know, I need to get a life..yeah, yeah.
Once you achieve the consistency like the picture above it’s time to spice it up. You can be boring and just leave it as plain old almond butter, but it’s sooooo much better with the cacao powder and other ingredients, trust us!
Add in the fixins….the cacao powder, honey, vanilla and a little bit of coconut oil…and don’t forget the salt. Feel free to adjust the honey to make it as sweet as you want, you also may need to adjust the amount of coconut oil to reach the perfect consistency. Before you know it you will be smothering this salted chocolate almond butter on anything and everything. We happen to really love it caked on a perfectly toasted piece of bread with some sliced bananas, a sprinkle of chia seeds and a drizzle of honey. Yum!
- 2 C unsalted raw almonds
- 2 Tbsp cacao powder
- 1 Tbsp coconut oil + more to thin if necessary
- 1 tsp raw honey + more for desired sweetness
- ½ tsp vanilla
- kosher or sea salt to taste - approx 1 tsp
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds evenly on rimmed cookie sheet. Toast for 10 minutes in the oven.
- Remove almonds from oven and transfer to a food processor. Mix continually, ocassionally stop to scrape down sides. Almonds will turn to powder consistancy and eventually turn to smooth buttery consistancy after about 10 minutes....be patient! Once this happens add remaining ingredients and mix to incorporate. Adjust honey and salt as desired. Store in mason jar in the pantry or fridge.
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