Homemade Almond Butter

Easy almond butter - one ingredient!

Who knew it was so easy to make almond butter? Not me, that's who!

We had a bag of almonds that tasted a bit stale to me so I was going to through them out...but it was a whole pound of nuts. Since I didn't want to waste them I decided to use them in my first attempt at making almond butter - if I totally screwed it up then no biggie since I was going to throw them out anyways.

I basically roasted them for twelve minutes in the oven. This actually made them taste much better!

I then threw them in my Nutribullet. If you don't have one a food processor will do the job - it just might take a bit longer or be a bit grainier than my results.

I didn't add anything else - no salt, no sugar, no nothing.

My husband says this almond butter is better than any type we have bought before! It's also creamier and doesn't seem to go as clumpy once in the fridge. It's delicious on apples, bread, yogourt, smoothies, oatmeal...well pretty much anything!

Ingredients

1 lb almonds (raw or roasted, skin on)

Instructions

1. If using raw almonds, toast them in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
2. Cool.
3. Throw into food processor or Nutribullet.
4. Turn it on. It will quickly look like sand and you may think this is not gonna work. It will.
5. If you have to, stop it and stir or shake it. Turn on again. Repeat as needed.
6. Eventually (5-10 minutes) you will see it start to look more like almond butter. Keep going so it become really smooth. (another 3-5 minutes)
7. I was multitasking the day I made this so I turned off the Nutribullet for 10 minutes while I did other things and then put it on again to ensure it was as smooth as possible.

Makes about a cup of almond butter.
Yum!

Drivin' Me Nuts Granola

This is my second granola recipe. I've adapted this one from one of Chef Michael Smith's. I think homemade granola is infinitely better than anything we can buy. Even more important? It's waaaaay cheaper to make it at home. In fact, if you have oats then you can probably whip  up a batch today with ingredients already in your cupboard. Nuts, dried fruit, a little oil, some form of sweetener - honey, maple syrup, or aguave syrup all work.

This version has maple and aguave syrups as well as pecans, almonds, bran and milled flax. The aroma while it baked was heavenly! Granola also makes a great hostess gift over the holidays and a little bit more healthy than a batch of cookies or box of chocolates (not that there is anything wrong with either of those!)

Ingredients
4 cups large flake oats
1/2 cup milled flax
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 cup pecan bits
1/2  chopped almonds
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup aguave syrup
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 cup dried cranberries

  

What to do

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix in large bowl, oats, flax, bran, salt, pecans and almonds.
3. Heat the oil, both syrups, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in a small sauce pan until quite warm/hot - NOT BOILING OR EVEN SIMMERING - just hot in order to bring out flavours.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Add oil mixture to dry ingredients and mix until well distributed.
6. Spread granola on large pan lined with a silpat.
7. Bake for 40 minutes but every 10 minutes remove from oven and stir granola to ensure even cooking and browning.
8. Cool completely after baking is complete.
9. Add cranberries.
10. Store in airtight container.
11. Enjoy!