almonds, almonds, everywhere!

A few people have asked me how I make my almond butter, so I figured I would share! There are a bunch of different ways to make almond butter, but I particularly like mine because it's just almonds. No added oils at all. What makes this work, for me, is that I take my raw almonds, and roast them for ~8 minutes. Roasting them helps to release some of the natural oils inside, which helps in creating the perfect almond butter!

You can use as many or as lfew almonds as you'd like. I typically use around 2 cups, but I never measure. 

Pre-heat your oven to 375F. And spread the almonds on a baking sheet in a single layer.

You need to keep a close eye on the almonds. You DON'T want them burning. In my oven, it takes about 8 minutes. Basically once you can smell a hint of roasted almonds, you can take them out. You can see below that the almonds start to have a little shine to them.

Now comes the potentially discouraging part. Tossing them into your food processor.

They'll immediately turn into crumbs (seen below) and start piling up on the sides. Once your processor is whirling around and doing nothing (because of the accumulation on the sides), stop the processor and scrape down the sides. You'll end up having to do this about every 30-45 seconds.

The picture below was at about 9 minutes. Yes. This is a long process.

Eventually the almonds start to form a paste. Hurray! And you no longer need to scrap the sides, because everything starts to stick! Double hurray! It's just a couple minutes longer at this point. And you can blend to your desired consistency, too. I like mine relatively smooth, so I processed a bit longer.

Voila! Your almond butter is done!! I put mine in mason jars and store them in the fridge. I've never tested how long it lasts, because, honestly, it never lasts over 2 weeks. I am an almond butter addict. I don't think there are ABAA meetings anywhere, though.

You can also get creative here, too, and add flavor. Cocoa powder, a dash of maple syrup, cinnamon, etc. I really like the taste without any additions, as it has a tiny hint of sweetness from roasting the almonds.

I also tried making almond milk for the first time this week and it was a huge success! Super easy, as well.

Take one cup of raw almonds, and soak them in water overnight. (I tossed in a couple dates as I thought it would add a hint of sweetness... I couldn't taste it, and I really just use my almond milk in smoothies, so I will nix the dates next time.)

In the morning, rinse the almonds and dates really well. Your water will be a tinged brownish color. You don't want to use that water.

Grab 1.5c of purified water, and toss your almonds and dates into a blender, with the water.

Blend away!

I blended for about a minute.

Then, scrape down the sides of any almond pulp, and add another 1.5c of water.

Blend again for about another minute.

Grab a bowl and fine mesh strainer (or cheese cloth or I've heard a cleaned paint cloth works, too) and pour the almond milk, in batches through the strainer.

I did about 3 batches, pressing the almonds against the strainer with a silicone spoon. I had another bowl I transferred the pulp to, after each batch.

Voila again! Almond milk! Fresh and without any added, funny, ingredients!

I put my milk in a sealed container in the fridge where it should last about 3 days.

The recipe yielded around 4 cups, as well.

I saved the almond pulp and am going to try out a recipe tonight to use it! I'll report on how it turns out. Definitely don't want to have any delicious almonds going to waste.
 
Have you made any nut butters or milks at home before??
I find it so rewarding and so simple, too!