One of the things I have become addicted to recently is Justin's Maple Almond Butter. I love dipping apples or pretzel sticks into it as my after work snack. However, it is really expensive (about $10 for a 12 oz jar) and I can't afford my habit of eating a jar every week and a half. So I decided to try to make my own almond butter.
I hunted around online in search of instructions, and they all made it seem really easy. Toast nuts, put in food processor, process for ages and ages (usually around 10-25 minutes, depending on the processor you use) and woo-hoo, you have almond butter! So, I figured I'd try it.
I had two failures before I got it right. Yep... two. That's a lot of wasted almonds. Now I have it figured out though, and I'll let you know what I did so you don't make the same mistakes.
On my first batch, I toasted the almonds, dumped them into the processor and blended it up. It had been on high for about 20 minutes and showed no sign of turning into butter so I thought maybe if I pour some of the maple syrup in now, it'll add moisture and help it process better. Nope. Bad, bad, bad idea. It seized up the whole batch, turning it into a playdoh type mass. It finally released it's oils, but in this nasty way of secreting them and expelling them from the mass of almond dough.
So, rule number one: DO NOT ADD ANYTHING TO THE ALMONDS BEFORE THEY ARE A SMOOTH BUTTER. Save the salt and/or cinnamon or any other dry flavors until the end.
My second batch I was more patient. I also tried using my blendtec blended instead of the food processor to try and get a creamier consistency. It worked! My toasted almonds became a beautiful smooth butter! Then I thought, I can just add the maple syrup now. It's butter, what could go wrong?
It seized up again, but not into a dough. It lost its creaminess and turned into a texture like damp sand. It was like the oils all disappeared. This batch I was able to save as a yogurt topper, or I may try using some on an apple crisp or something. It definitely will not work as butter though.
Second rule: DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID TO THE ALMOND BUTTER.
The way to get that maple taste is to toss the almonds in maple syrup before you toast them. The syrup dries onto the nuts, bringing its taste in the form of dry sugar crystals rather than a liquid. I'd imagine it would work the same if you wanted to use vanilla, honey, liquid smoke or any other liquid to make other flavored almonds.
Hopefully my failures can help you, and you can avoid the same fate!
Here are the almonds of my third batch, after being toasted with the maple syrup.
Here is a comparison of texture. The top left jar is the third batch, smooth almond butter, and the bowl is of the second batch, with the sand-like crumbles.
I saved the crumbles batch anyway to use in my coconut yogurt with strawberries.
2 cups raw almonds
3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp salt
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Toss the almonds with the maple syrup to coat them. Lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (it keeps them from sticking to the cookie sheet and makes for super easy clean up!).
3. Bake the almonds for 10-15 minutes, until the maple syrup looks more sticky.
4. Take almonds out of the oven and allow to cool about 10 minutes. We still want them a little warm for the food processor, it makes them easier to process.
5. Break apart any chunks that have formed, and put the almonds in a food processor or high powered blender. Feel free to just eat a couple almonds, they're already delicious at this point ;)
6. Blend on high for 10-25 minutes (depending on the power of your blender/processor) It's noisy at first, but quiets down pretty quickly. It will first become crumbs, then a texture like dry sand, then like damp sand, and finally the oils will release and it will look like store bought almond butter.
7. Add in salt and mix until incorporated. Pour into a jar for storage. I like to use wide mouth half pint jars, for easy apple or pretzel dipping.
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