Homemade Almond Butter

     I have yet another confession to make: I don't really like peanut butter. That may sound crazy to some of you, or even un-American, but I can't help it. I never really cared for PB&J, I've never felt compelled to bake with peanut butter, and with the exception of my twice yearly cravings for a Reese's cup, I'd never dream of combining it with chocolate. Occasionally, I'll have some on an English muffin for breakfast, and for some reason, I do enjoy those chewy grocery store peanut butter cookies, but that's really it. I'm a much bigger fan of Nutella, and especially almond butter. If almond butter wasn't ridiculously expensive, I would eat that exclusively. Now that I've discovered how to make almond butter myself, I may never buy peanut butter again. If you've never tried almond butter, you should. The only way I can describe it is that it's nuttier and has a richer flavor and more interesting texture than peanut butter. To make it, you only need 4 simple ingredients and a good food processor.

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 cups raw whole almonds
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon sugar
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread the almonds out on a cookie sheet and bake for 7 minutes. You can skip this step, but roasting the almonds really enhances the flavor.

2. Run the almonds in a food processor for a total of about 10 minutes. As they break down, they will release natural oils. Every 2 minutes or so, stop the machine and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. After about 3 minutes, it will look like this:

 3. At the 5 minute mark, add the canola oil. After about 8 minutes, it will look like this:

4. At about 9 minutes, add the sugar and salt. Run the machine for another minute, then taste test, adjust, and blend again if necessary. Everyone likes a different amount of sweetness and salt in their peanut and almond butter. When the almond butter is done, it will look like this:

      The texture will be a little different than that of peanut butter. It's denser and spreads differently. Store it in tupperware in the fridge because it obviously doesn't have the preservatives that regular peanut butter has. Enjoy this! Put it on anything you would put peanut butter on (bread, fruit, etc.). Or just eat it by the spoonful. I'm sure tempted to! Come back tomorrow for the healthiest chocolate milkshake you'll ever have!