Raw Recipe: Almond Butter
Making nut butters can be a little tricky. I used to think that I had to do them in my Vitamix, which would drive me batty with all the scraping down that was required. Other times, I would have a fail, only because I quit too early. I didn’t realize how much time it takes, and the process that the nuts have to go through. But if you have a little patience, you can make nut butters that are fabulous. You will never want to buy them again! Almond butter is a good one to start with.
I used my Kitchen Aid 12 cup food processor. It is a strong processor. The bottom warms up a little bit but if you are using an older processor, or a processor with a much weaker motor, common sense needs to prevail.
After 2 minutes it will look like this.
After 4 minutes it will look like this.
After 6 minutes it will look like this.
Around 8 minutes, the almond mixture will ball up. Just let it keep going.
At 10 minutes it has begun to redistribute, but it is not done yet. You want to wait until the oils get released.
At 12 minutes the almonds have released their oil and the butter is ready! If you want to add honey or salt, stir it in by hand.
*Chef’s Note: If using soaked, dehydrated (dried) almonds, you may need to add a little oil. This recipe requires the use of completely dry almonds.
Almond Butter
MAKES 1 1/4 CUPS ALMOND BUTTER
- 2 cups Almonds
- 1 tablespoon Raw Honey (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt (optional)
- Place almonds in food processor. Process for 8-12 minutes. You will need to scrape down the sides in the beginning. If you choose to use the honey and salt, stir in by hand after the butter is made as it will seize the mixture if you try to add it before.
*Chef’s Note: If using soaked, dehydrated (dried) almonds, you may need to add a little oil. This recipe requires the use of completely dry almonds.
Angelie wrote on July 7, 2011
My foodprocessor has a smaller glass bowl, which I used. It began smoking and when I picked it up the grip on the bottom dropped right off – the rubber had melted, so now I just ruined the small bowl – hurrrah 🙁 and The almonds weren’t even sticking together yet…
Susan wrote on July 7, 2011
I would contact your food processor company.
Kate wrote on June 29, 2011
Is it normal for the butter/food processor bowl to get VERY warm? This worked great, and the pictures made me confident that I could just keep blending until it loosened up! Almond butter is the best, and WAY healthier than peanut butter
Susan wrote on June 29, 2011
No, it should not get very warm. It does get warm. It will depend on the motor size of your food processor, its ability to process, etc They vary a lot. 🙂
leslie wrote on June 21, 2011
How big is your food processor? I think it would make a difference with the size/capacity and the amount of almonds/nuts one wants to work with.
I trying out my small one which seems to be working nicely with 1 cup of almonds. It’s an older model yet working out just fine. I’m letting it cool off now for a bit since it’s getting hot. I’m using raw, unpasteurized, organic almonds, and added some walnut oil to help it out a bit.
Years ago I tried this with my larger food processor which holds over 4 cups (it’s an older model from Braun). It ran for hours, and I had to scrape a lot and yielded nothing edible.
Happy for your thoughts — thank you for posing this!
Jolie wrote on June 19, 2011
Thanks for the great recipe! The recipe calls for 2 cups of almonds, but how many cups of almond butter does this recipe make? Also, do you have any of the nutrition facts (i.e. calories) for this recipe?
Susan wrote on June 19, 2011
It makes a little over a cup of almond butter. I do not have the nutritional facts but since it only uses one ingredient, it would be pretty easy to figure out. 🙂 http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3085/2
Jolie wrote on June 19, 2011
Thanks for this great recipe! The recipe calls for 2 cups of almonds, but how many cups of almond butter does this recipe make? Also, do you have any of the nutrition facts for this recipe (i.e. calories)?
Chelsea wrote on June 16, 2011
That was an adventure. I’ve never made nut butter before but this was quite the schpeel. I read that the wood-like skin inhibits digestion of all those great nutrients, so I blanched them myself (took an hour, all told), lightly toasted them, let them cool, and worked with them in the food processor for a total of maybe 45 minutes, having to scrape down the sides every 30 seconds about 10-15 times after it’d been running for 4 minutes or so. Oh and that’s not including the cool-down breaks needed for the Processor because it was overheating – and cooking the almonds! The effort was… humbling and patience-building(/-forcing) but it tastes great, and was cheap (labor notwithstanding). Thanks for the recipe, it’s perfect.
Susan wrote on June 19, 2011
You may need a more powerful food processor. It only takes me about 10-12 minutes.
margaret wrote on June 13, 2011
did i do something wrong? i have a high powered blender and i kept having to scrape the sides to get the almonds into the blade. it’s taken over an hour and still not ready? I used roasted and salted almonds that I bought from Kroger… any advice?
thanks!
Susan wrote on June 13, 2011
Well, first of all raw almonds were used in this recipe, not roasted and salted almonds. I have never tried to make an almond butter with those. I would think they have a completely different texture and oil content.
Oz wrote on June 6, 2011
Wow, this is amazing!
Everything happened precisely as you described, step by step, and now I have sticky yummy almond butter!
Thank you very much.
Dianna wrote on June 4, 2011
How should the almond butter be stored?
Susan wrote on June 5, 2011
It is a nut, it has oils and it can go rancid, so I would store it in the refrigerator.