Making Almond Butter - How to Make Almond Butter

Well what is wrong with peanut butter you may ask? After all, peanut butter is the traditional nut butter. Peanut butter recipes rule the stomachs and sandwiches across the world. So why replace it with almond butter? Maybe just for a change! Or almond butter can be used as an interesting addition to your repertoire of sandwiches and cookies! Making almond butter is very easy and it tastes great. Moreover, almonds are really good for health, so instead of eating almonds raw you could learn how to make almond butter and use it as a spread for breads! So, how to make almond butter? Well read on…

How to Make Almond Butter?
Making almond butter will consume only these humble ingredients:

• almonds (assume 2 cupfuls of almonds for 10 oz of butter)
• olive oil (assume 1 tbsp of oil per cup of nuts)
• salt to taste

Instructions
Making almond butter is no big deal. You can make your almond butter using plain raw almonds or roasted almonds. Quite a dilemma considering that both have their own individual qualities. Raw almonds are advocated by nutritionists as the secret of good health, while it is no secret that roasted almond butter will taste so much better! Maybe you could try both roasted and raw and then decide which one you like best! Remove the skin of the almonds as it may add a bitter taste to the final product. Once blanched, if you've decided to roast the almonds, oven heat them at about 350 degrees. Keep a sharp eye on them and make sure they don't get burned! Keep shaking the pan every 5 minutes or so. As it happens in case of everything that comes out of the oven, you know the almonds are ready once they are brown.

Put the raw/roasted almonds in the blender. Crank the blender up to a high speed. At first the mixture will look dry and nutty, but about 10 min into the blending, the almonds will start releasing oil and slowly the ground almonds will have a smooth and creamy texture. Olive oil is actually optional and you can use more or less than given. You can even give the olive oil a miss altogether. Olive oil will add only little to the creaminess, but a bit more to the overall taste of the almond butter. Here's a really wicked idea, add dark chocolate to the blend to give the almond butter a really unique taste. Now finally remove the butter from the blender and your almond butter is ready!

Almond Butter Recipes
Almond butter can be added to a number of recipes to enhance their taste. The simplest almond butter recipe tip is to use it in a sandwich with jelly! But hey, with a little creativity and your taste buds for guidance, you could use it anywhere from cakes, cookies, brownies and even in toffees.

Here's a sample almond butter recipe to get you started!

Almond Butter Cookies
Heat up your oven to 350 degrees. Blend sugar and the recently made fresh almond butter together till it gets smooth. Take this mixture and beat egg whites into it. Tip - Add vanilla extract and rum and make it a treat for the senses! Add pastry flour and salt and beat the dough till it is soft. Shape the cookies from the dough and place them in an oven pan. Place the cookies-to-be in the center rack of your preheated oven for about 10-15 min. Watch as the soft dough turns into crunchy almond butter cookies. Enjoy!