Almond Butter

One of the earlier memories I have of my father-in-law is hearing him talk about the almond butter in his fridge. I had never even heard of almond butter, but it is a well loved commodity in my husband's family. My very health conscious father-in-law is justified in loving almonds! They provide wonderful nutrients such as protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin E and B6, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc (thanks Wikipedia!). In Utah it was fairly easy to find it, but I don't think I've seen almond butter anywhere out where we are now. 

Never fear, if you want to try almond butter, all you need is almonds. Those are much easier to find!

Start by spreading your almonds in a cookie sheet with an edge all around it. Roast in the oven at 300 degrees for at least 10 minutes or until the almonds are a bit darker. Allow to cool until you are comfortable handling the almonds.
Pour your almonds into a food processor
and process those almonds until they are butter. As you slice/chop/whatever your almonds, you are causing the oils to be released which over time helps create almond butter.

You'll have a flour type mixture for a while, just keep going (it takes quite a while to get to the butter point). If necessary, scrape the sides when your processor is off. In the above picture you can see the oils starting to spread. And finally, I present you with almond butter. My husband loves it on celery or apple slices, or wherever he would normally put peanut butter...even in our chocolate banana shakes! Pour into a tupperware type container and if it's still warm, allow to cool before you put your almond butter into the fridge, where it should be kept until it's all gone.

Zero preservatives or sugar added! Enjoy!

I'm linking up to Family Food Friday @ Get Healthy Cheap, Homemaking Monday @ 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven,