Homemade Almond Butter Recipe

About a month ago my life in the kitchen got a whole lot sweeter..I bought myself a Vitamix! I had been wanting either a Vitamix or Blendtec forever, but after reading a million and one reviews- went with the Vitamix. I got mine when the Vitamix roadshow was in town at our local Costco. Everyone said that that was by far the best deal on them you could find. Costco always has a regular one for sale, but the roadshow one is only $20 more and insanely better quality. Not going to lie and say the price tag on it was great, it still cost $380+tax but it has already proven it self to me ten times over. My  in-laws have one as well, that they’ve had for about 10 years. 10 YEARS for a blender is just unheard of!

I have been using it every day to make juice, smoothies, etc. but today i’ll show you how I made homemade almond butter. So much better than anything I have bought in the stores {and I have tried most} and cheaper! Score!

Ingredients:

1 lb. almonds

1 tbsp. coconut oil

1 tbsp. agave nectar

a pinch of salt

I normally out of habit buy raw almonds, so thats what I had on hand. However, I wanted to make roasted almond butter, so I simply roasted mine.

Directions:

• If desired: Roast almonds but putting them on a baking sheet with parchment paper at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Make sure to stir them around once or twice to make sure none burn.

• Let almonds cool

• Add almonds alone to Vitamix {or other food processor} and begin blending.

• You will continue to blend until the dry almonds begin to look clumpy. Push down the almonds as it blends.

• Once it reaches the desired consistency { I like mine fairly smooth, but if you want your a little chunky simply shorten the blending time} add in the coconut oil, agave nectar, and salt. The coconut oil and agave nectar are by no means necessary, but I like to add in ‘good fats’ whenever possible, and a little sweetness never hurt anyone;) That amount of agave nectar by no means makes the butter sweet though. In the end, this was our consistency:

Excuse the fact that this picture kind of resembles poop..of some sort!

This recipe will make you about 16 oz. of homemade almond butter! A whole lot cheaper than store bought, and in my opinion..way yummier. We stored ours in airtight glass jars, and constantly have one of the counter and one as backup in the fridge.
We have kept ours out on the counter for about 2-3 weeks at a time with no issues. It can stay in the refrigerator for about 3 months, and can freeze for 6 months! So make big batches and store away!

My favorite way to use almond butter is to spread it on a nicely toasted piece of Ezekiel bread topped with a banana. Heaven. How do you use yours? Or have you ever tried almond butter before? I swear- J was totally against it at first, and now is a total convert…not that he has much of an option since I dont buy/make anything else;)