This maple cinnamon almond butter is so easy to make, you’ll never want to buy store bought again!
It’s Wednesday!
You know that means you get to see all my meals in their delicious glory, but this week is a bonus because there’s an awesome recipe involved too for homemade almond butter with notes of cinnamon and maple syrup, something I’ve pretty much wanted to try out for years and finally just got around to.
Let it be known that I shall never buy a store bought version again.
But first, the food.
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. A Honeycrisp apple was eaten 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 similar to this collard green side dish recipe.
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 maple cinnamon almond butter.
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 40 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 almond butter 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 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.
Unless you’re making macadamia nut butter because that one comes together in just 3 minutes. It’s a great recipe if you’re short on time and makes the most lusciously creamy nut butter!
Of course I couldn’t just make any regular almond butter.
Why settle for regular when you have options? Sweet options!
Maple syrup, cinnamon and vanilla to be exact.
It’s the simplest of flavorings but I’ve started adding it to all my homemade nut and seed butters. I especially love it in pumpkin seed butter.
You can leave it out if you think you want to use your homemade almond butter for a savory recipe like almond butter fall pasta but if it’s for breakfast or dessert options only, I definitely recommend adding the maple syrup and cinnamon!
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.
Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Your sandwich looks delicious and the almond butter I think I need to try!
Sounds great! Does it need to be stored in the refrigerator?
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!
I had salmon today as well!
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. :)
That almond butter is amazing! I’m a total convert now :)
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.
Christmas idea for 2012!!
Remind me in November!
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
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! :)