Hi, I’m a food blogger and I had oatmeal for breakfast. Stereotype much? I’m not explaining it, it’s just oats and toppings. Moving on…
Lunch:
Slightly burnt grilled cheese, except not cheese at all. Instead, 1 hard boiled egg, edamame dip, a pickle and smoked paprika. Odd and delicious. Honeycrisp on the side.
Dinner:
Every WIAW post I seriously cringe when it comes to posting the dinner picture. They’re all tinted a horrible yellow no matter what settings I shoot in and no post editing can even fix it. Regardless, dinner was really good. One of those simple meals that turns out surprisingly well. Broiled salmon with a mustard, thyme glaze and a spiced up collard greens/rice mixture. I spent $16 on what you see here x2 (just over a pound of salmon) and I kind of cringed at the store when I realized how much he cut but then thought how much a piece of salmon for 1 person would be in a restaurant and I quickly got over it and realized it was quite a deal for wild Alaskan King. Go big or go home.
And lastly, dessert. Which I have no shame admitting was a spoonful (or two) of this stuff. It’s THAT good.
Trader Joe’s almond butter and I had a thing. I think it’s the best one out there and I can go through a jar in about a week by myself. Trader Joe’s is about 35 minutes away though so I was bound to run out one time or another. A few weeks ago, it happened. I freaked and bought Barney Butter as a replacement from my local grocery store. NOT THE SAME! I know some people rave about Barney Butter, but I’m not a fan to put it nicely. I choked down the last of Barney yesterday morning in my oatmeal and decided it was finally time to give homemade nut butter a shot.
Guys, this stuff is life changing. No more guessing which brands are drippy, which aren’t, paying upwards of $10 a jar for any sort of “flavoring” and most importantly, no more having to stir the oil back into the nut butter when you open it. If that last one isn’t reason enough to make your own, I obviously can’t convince you because but I loathe that task with a capital L and would pay someone to do it for me.
Making your own nut butter is a bit of a nerve wracking experience. Just when you think nothing is going to happen after watching it process for 10 minutes or so, it all of a sudden starts to turn into creamy goodness and you breath a sigh of relief.
Of course I couldn’t just make any regular nut butter. Why settle for regular when you have options? Sweet options! Maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla to be exact.
I’m sorry Trader Joe’s, we had a good run but it’s time for me to move on. It’s not you, it’s me.
- 1½ cup raw almonds
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss almonds with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup in a medium bowl. Spread out onto baking sheet.
- Roast almonds for 10-15 minutes, tossing a couple of times.
- Remove almonds and let cool 3-5 minutes.
- Place almonds in food processor and process for 8-10 minutes, scraping down the sides when needed until it becomes creamy.
- Add remaining ingredients, including the other tablespoon of maple syrup and process again until combined and creamy.
{ 66 comments… read them below or add one }
almond but butter sounds soo good
haha see what i did there? I LOVE YOU. i would love to make some of this myself..it looks delicious and simple enough. i’d probably mess up though and break my food processor lol..btw, where’d you get your cute spoons? i only have white ones & i would love some colored ones!!
haha, yeah typo of the year on that one yesterday!
Love the simplicity of this almond butter! I’ve noticed other homemade ones use canola oil, but I’m all for using more maple syrup.
I think I need to make a batch, because lately the nut butter prices have been a little extreme. Happy Hump Day!
YUM! The almond butter sounds great.
P.S I want that sandwich. I love pickles in my egg salad and love edamames.
That almond butter sounds gooooood. I still haven’t tried to make any in the food processor I’ve had for years. It’s a shame, really.
The almond butter looks to diiiiiiieee for!
Oh wow – yummy! I love that it’s so simple to make too – I think I need to invest in a Vitamix so I can whip up all these delectable nut butters in a snap
I’ve always wanted to try almond butter…it never occurred to me to make my own! PS. I have the same problem with dinner photos, UGH!
I’ve made maple peanut butter before but I love the idea of homemade almond butter. And roasting the almonds in maple syrup is such an awesome idea!!!
OMG that grilled cheese looks epic.
Ohhh I’ve made a cinnamon almond butter but I’ve never added maple!!! YUM! That would be the perfect sweetener!
Dinner shots are the worst, especially during the winter months. When will it be light again?!?
The AB looks great– and much more economical than store-bought!
I’d pay $10 for a jar of that! My panini making strategy is finding a sturdy spatula and pressing as hard as I can.
I use the same “panini maker” method that you do! I think I’m going to have to make some homemade almond butter today!
Love your oatmeal bowl!! Where is it from?
X
I picked it up at Homegoods. My go-to accessory store
I did the same exact cringe in the grocery store last week with salmon. But I think once in a while I’m going to treat myself though because it was worth it! The almond butter sounds amazing and probably a little more economical than the jars at the store which I can never bring myself to buy.
I go through phases with nut butters, but I am very much on an almond butter kick right now, and I love the TJ’s brand! I also love that it’s about half the price of other almond butters.
The maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla in your recipe sounds outstanding. I will definitely be making this! Maybe later today…
I just had a major “a-ha” moment – making your own almond butter, why not? Simple, delicious, and more cost effective. Looks delicious!
Here I am reminding you to bring me Vega treats tomorrow AND a giant jar of that nut butter please.
It’s by my purse. If I forget it tomorrow, there’s no hope left for me.
I’m addicted to Almond butter. Like crazy crazy crazy addicted. I eat it every day and LOVE it! I need to make some homemade nowwww.
That almond butter looks ridiculous! I want to make some!
I was secretly hoping you were going to say that “dessert” was that entire bowl of almond butter
I wouldn’t judge you 
I’m trying to savor it. Trying, key word.
I seriously need to make my own almond butter asap! I am saving this recipe for when I get around to making it! thank you for sharing!
I feel the same way about posting pictures, except when I eat breakfast the sun isn’t up yet so I can never quite get the photo I want!
Homemade almond butter! Yummm! The first steps are doable, unfortunately I don’t own a food processor.
Who knew it would be so easy? Even though you didnt talk about it, that oatmeal looks better than any oatmeal I have ever seen. I spy a C&B bowl?? love it. I loathe the yellow lighting. I live in Seattle so pretty much that is what I get all the time regardless of time of day. Boo hiss.
Oh and everything is ALWAYS better with Cinnamon.
I don’t know if my ancient food processor could handle running for 10 minutes. It might overheat and die. But for maple almond butter with cinnamon I would take that risk.
Yeah, I was too scared to try it using my old one. I say give it a shot and if it blows up, it’s a good excuse to buy a new one
That looks and sounds amazing. I don’t know why I still haven’t made my own almond butter yet. I totally agree about TJ’s almond butter being the best commercially available product, and definitely the best value. I have my mom mail me jars of it because there are no Trader Joe’s in Florida
Even more reason to make it myself….
Yummmmmmy! I love making my own nut butters, but I haven’t been so creative lately. This sounds soo good. I’m loving any and all things maple lately so this is right up my alley
Roasting first, no oil added, waiting 10 long and LOUD minutes; yes that’s what I do when I make my own. But I don’t love almond butter as much as PB or Cookie butter
But if I was going to make my own, it would be THIS way…with maple and cinnamon.
It’s gorgeous!
My favorite almond butter is Justin’s maple… I MUST make this homemade version! Looks fantastic =).
Justin is pretty awesome, his price tag is not!
Oh my gosh your almond butter looks stunning! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try!
xx
Christmas idea for 2012!!
Remind me in November!
You ended your day with almond butter on a spoon; I ended mine with peanut butter on a spoon. I think that means we should be friends. Great WIAW post. I feel your pain with the yellow dinnertime photos. I have the same issue!
haha destiny, clearly.
That almond butter is amazing! I’m a total convert now
I made almond butter recently too, and I had the same fear that nothing was happening, until it finally started getting creamy! I love the idea of maple and cinnamon additions… yum!! Your photos are gorgeous too, I’m always jealous of people who have photography skills.
I had salmon today as well!
Hi Gina!
It’s kinda funny… I adore your blog (I subscribed to your RSS when I started running in the summer and stumbled upon it), but I think this might be my first comment! So, first things first: thanks so much for all the recipes and inspiration (both foodwise and runningwise).
Next: I’m a photographer, so I thought I’d see if I could help at all with the photo stuff. Your photos are, on a whole, quite lovely! I never could quite get the hang of food photography myself. Anyways, what do you use to edit your photos? If you use Photoshop, you could probably get away with a simple “auto colour” correction for the reddish cast. I tried it on your dinner photo and it worked quite nicely – and it’s easier than playing with the levels or curves. If you have something like Lightroom, you could adjust the white balance/colour temperature (bring it towards the blue). Perhaps you use a different program altogether, but let me know! What camera do you use, also? There may be a way to set the white balance before taking the photo, which would save you most of the trouble of trying to remove the colour cast later.
Anyways, enough of that… thanks for the recipes!! I make my own nut butters from time to time but I’ve never thought to add maple syrup and cinnamon… I’m afraid I’d just eat the whole thing, but I’ll probably give it a go anyways.
Hi Steph! I don’t have either photoshop or lightroom actually, I just use the software that Canon provides that came with my DSLR (it’s a T3 by the way) I’m sure it has some option that would help me tweak the redness but even setting the camera to tungsten and adjusting white balance afterwards still leaves me with a blah picture. I’m not too worried about it b/c I just avoid taking pictures at night unless it’s a WIAW post so once it week it’s not too bad
but if you have some other suggestion I’m all ears!
Sounds great! Does it need to be stored in the refrigerator?
Your sandwich looks delicious and the almond butter I think I need to try!
I’ve never had almond butter and have been hesitant to buy it for the very fact that it is so expensive. I really don’t want to buy some, not like it, and then be all like, oh geez, do I just suck it up and throw it out or let it sit in the fridge until it gets moldy and then, oh well, I HAVE to throw it out now (yes, this is my logic).
Buuuut, since I have all these ingredients at home, I can make my own! (cue angels singing) How long will this last, do you know? It’s just me eating it, so I’m curious.
It will definitely keep for a while. I’m keeping it in the fridge but I never keep my store bought jars in the fridge so I doubt you even have to. Granted, this amount will probably be gone within a week in my house at the rate me and my husband (ok, mostly me
) go through it. It only makes about a cup of almond butter and even just eating a tablespoon a day, I wouldn’t be worried about it spoiling by the time you go through it. Hope you give it a shot!
I’m so glad I stumbled onto your site!
This recipe looks awesome and I’ve been looking for a great recipe to break in my new food processor! Looking forward to reading more.
All your foods that you ate on Wednesday look super yummy!!
Your almond butter looks awesome! I agree, there’s always a tense moment just before it … uh … butters
and I love trying different favors, too.
Your pictures are gorgeous!
I absolutely LOVE almond butter. Why have I not made it myself yet? Sounds so amazingly simple. Plus yum how delicious would a cocoa almond butter be? MMMMM! Thanks for sharing.
OMG Gina thank for this incredible idea! I found your blog recently and I made this yesterday and followed your recipe exactly (and my husband was like what’s going on in there with the food processor?! haha), and just ate it over toast with bananas this morning for breakfast. SO GOOD! Will definitely be making it again when I run out!!
So happy you liked it! I’m almost done with mine already and trying to think up new flavor combos
That sandwich looks fantastic. Really, I want to eat it now. And maybe some of that almond butter on the side.
Thanks for the almond butter recipe! I whipped up a batch using some cocoa roast almonds I needed to use up and agave syrup. So easy and so delish!
Oooh! I know that almond butter recipe is amazing because my recipe is pretty much the same except I use more maple syrup. And more cinnamon. I don’t like almonds so it helps. Yours looks really good! Definitely better than mine.
Yours sounds pretty good! More cinnamon and sugar is always a good thing
I just started making my own almond butter in the Vitamix– I went basic, TJ’s raw almond butter replica, no salt or sweetener or anything. But yours looks quite fancy and yum. And everything you ate today looked delish– you had me going with that wild Alaskan king, I was going to guess you were from the Northwest.
That looks so yummy! I tried making my own almond butter last week and it was soooo good! I didn’t add anything to it though, maple and cinnamon sounds delish!
That looks so yummy! I tried making my own almond butter last week and it was soooo good! I didn’t add anything to it though, maple and cinnamon sounds amazing!
Mine will not get creamy!:(
If you’re using a large food processor (11+ cup) it should eventually, just keep processing. Small ones don’t work well for nut butters in general. You can also add a touch of oil of any kind, that should also help if you want it creamier.
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