Organic & Whole Living: Raw Almond Butter from Scratch

This year, my plan is to grow the Organic & Whole Living category here at Vintage Indie. Feeding my family with wholesome foods using the freshest ingredients is a passion of mine and I hope to make more from scratch.

This year I plan to dive into homemade sourdough breads, tortillas,cheeses, kefir, sauces and much more. I hope you'll join me as I strive to keep a budget, fill my families bellies with things that are good for their bodies, all-the-while encouraging you at the same time. 

 

Raw Almond Butter:

Hopefully you'll find this tutorial for raw almond butter helpful and a step towards healthier eating for 2011. One of my favorite snacks is a granny smith apple slathered in a little raw almond butter. One with no added sugars or preservatives. Here's how to do it.

 

What You'll Need: Raw Almonds & a Food Processor.

Yep, that's it! No sugars, no oils, no preservatives. The only ingredient you need for raw almond butter is raw almonds.

You may be thinking, why would I want to make my own almond butter. Well, here are a few reasons, that I make raw almond butter at home.

1. You can purchase almonds in bulk for a price break to make almond butter cheaper than you can purchase it in the store. 

2. No added sugars.

3. No added preservatives.

4. No plastic packaging. (I realize there are some glass jar almond butter companies, but the majority of them are plastic containers)

5. The simple joy you'll feel when you have your own jar full of that luscious butter.

 

The processing part is where most people give up. You will need at least half an hour, patience and a spatula for scraping down the sides. Other than that, it's easy I promise!

 

Let's get started!

Start with 2 cups or 16 ounces of raw almonds. Pulse them until the are a sand-like texture. This will be a loud process, so best not to do this when the baby is sleeping.

Once you achieve a sand-like texture. You're going to want to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl and give your processor time to cool if you find it over heating. I used 2 cups for this batch, but smaller batchers are easier, you just end up with less butter. Hower, the processor seems to get hotter when you use the larger amount and it takes a little more time waiting for it to cool down.

The almonds will start to gather into a ball, much like pizza dough. You'll need to remove the lid and break this up every once in awhile.

Remember, raw almond butter takes patience. Keep pulsing and scraping and breaking up the almonds. You're waiting for the almonds to finally give up their oil.

Once they give up their oils, you'll start to notice the mixture getting creamy. Keep processing to get the consistency of your choice. The key here is to not overheat your processor causing the almonds to go from raw to cooked.

I store ours in a glass jar in the fridge. Usually it doesn't last longer than a week around here. Especially if I'm making dessert with it (recipe for that coming soon). We choose not to sweeten ours, the kids have got used to it that way. You could easily add honey or whichever sweetener you prefer.

Enjoy!

PS. Photos will be much better next time hopefully, as I plan to do more in natural lighting and of course figure out my new camera.