Heather eats Almond Butter...and so does Heather.

store-bought on the left, homemade on the right...

I was recently "tagged" on one of those Facebook chain-type notes. The title of it was My Life according to Google. For those of you who don't have a Facebook account (there are still some people who don't, right), it basically works like a chain email letter. Once you've been tagged, you copy the note, open up a new note and paste it in, then erase the first person's answers and insert your own. Then of course, you "tag" your friends and hope they'll tag you back, etc etc...

In this particular note, you enter your first name in the Google search bar followed by another word (given) and your answer is the first response that scrolls up automatically, or if nothing pops up, then you click I feel lucky and use what shows up there. Most of these made me laugh or were pretty cute. Some of my answers were:

Heather needs a childhood.....Heather looks like Hollywood actresses.....Heather will say if you're a pain in the butt.....Heather says vote...

But my absolute favorite was when I typed in Heather eats and was taken to the blog Heather eats Almond Butter. Heather eats Almond Butter!!! Yes. Yes, I do. As a matter of fact, I love Almond Butter. This is a great blog, by the way. (Other) Heather shares her story of losing weight through a healthy lifestyle...check it out...and she enjoys lots of almond butter.

I discovered Heather's blog in the same week I "discovered" Joy the Baker . Joy had a post about making homemade peanut butter. I took it as a sign that I found these great blogs so close together and decided to put the two together and make my own...you guessed it...Almond Butter. Hooray! Funny what some beautiful photos and friendly writing can do. Making nut butter is actually super simple. Makes me wonder why I never took the time to do it before? Well, the culinary juices are flowing, so...into the kitchen.

roast your almonds to depend the flavor

after 2 minutes of processing

after 5 minutes of processing

Almond Butter

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Keywords: condiment snack dairy-free soy-free vegan almonds nuts American

Ingredients (1.5 cups)

• 10 ounces whole almonds
• couple pinches sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Spread almonds onto a parchment or foil-lined sheet pan.

Roast in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, shaking the pan a few times during the process. The ultimate indicator of doneness will be the lovely roasted nut smell rising in the air, and the color of the nuts will have deepened.

Remove promptly and allow to cool. Once the nuts are cool, transfer the the bowl of a food processor. Add a couple pinches of sea salt. Process on high for about 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl, as needed, until smooth.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stir before using, to mix in the separated oils.

variations:

If you want a sweet nut butter, drizzle in a little honey or a bit of vanilla sugar when processing.

You can use this same method for making pretty much any variety of nut butter (cashew, peanut, pecan, etc).

store-bought versus new: just as good, and half the price

one of my favorite snacks