RECIPE: Homemade Almond Butter

I wrote about my pre-run dinners, so what about my pre-run breakfasts at 5am?  What do I eat when I am cold, disoriented and angry that I have to submit my body to this wonderful torture?

I eat almond butter.  

Almond butter with half a bagel and a banana.  Or almond butter with a thick slice of my homemade bread and a banana.  Either way, almond butter was always part of my meal, so I decided to make my own!  And it was the easiest thing I have ever made (my chocolate syrup comes in as a close second)!!!

WARNING: Almond butter can be a bit tricky, since I've made it twice now and I had to make it differently both times.

The First Time
I roasted 1 cup of raw, whole almonds, dumped them on parchment paper to cool off, dumped them in the food processor and let it go for about 12 minutes until it became liquidy and creamy.  That is the butter I have taken pictures of in this post.

The Second Time
I used 2 cups of raw, whole almonds, roasted the nuts a bit too long (some were definitely bordering on burnt) and then, after cooling them, dumped them in the food processor.  However, this time around, a butter did not form, just dried crumbles of almonds.  So I added approximately 2 teaspoons of honey and 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and kept processing until it formed the consistency I wanted.

 

At the end of the day, both versions were simple and delicious, so there really isn't a perfect science to it! 

Possible Variations

- Don't roast the almonds and just make raw almond butter

- Add some chocolate syrup to make chocolate almond butter (I am doing this with my next batch!!!)

- Add some spices (cinnamon, nutmeg etc) and honey for a Fall taste

- Add some pumpkin puree for an even bigger Fall taste