In order to make almond butter at home, you need a high-powered blender or food processor. You can also make this recipe in your electric spice & coffee grinder, one-quarter batch at a time, but the results won't be nearly as creamy as in a more powerful appliance.
Just beware of overheating your appliance. Making nut butters at home requires patience, and you might have to periodically take a break to prevent your appliance's motor from burning out. If the almond butter starts to generate steam or you can smell a vague burning plastic scent, chances are your appliance is struggling to churn through the nuts in one go. If that's the case, unplug and let the machine cool down for 10 minutes before resuming.
The easiest almond butter is just 2 ingredients: almonds and salt only. It's important that you start the grind with nothing but toasted nuts and salt. Introducing other ingredients like oil and sweetener too early in the process can result in a much less emulsified and chunkier end product, which is totally fine if you prefer it slightly gritty in texture.
I recommend adding some sweetener to offset the natural bitterness of toasted almonds, like honey or maple syrup. Do take note that once a liquid sweetener is introduced, the butter will seize and clump. It's important to be patient and to continue letting the blending process smooth it out with time. Oil is optional; it won't necessarily make a smoother, runnier butter, but incorporating a touch of it will add a bit more body and airiness.
Once you've made a batch, drop us a comment down below and let us know how it went!
Yields: 2 cups
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 50 mins
raw almonds
kosher salt
honey (optional)
to 2. tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil (optional)