Saturday, November 21, 2009

Chocolate Almond Butter

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 13 comments » / dips

I like to set these crazy rules for myself, then see if I can stick to them. My latest rule is “I’m not going to buy any peanut butter till after Christmas.” You see, I LOVE peanut butter. Like, love love love love love love love peanut butter. I have a couple favorite brands, all the natural kind. And I even really enjoy the fresh ground kind where I flip a switch and watch it go from nuts to paste right before my own eyes. I don’t eat the peanut butter “spread” that most people think of when you say peanut butter, but the kind that has at most 2 ingredients: peanuts & salt. I began to notice I was going through a lot of it, and I should probably cut back. So, that’s when the “No buying peanut butter till after Christmas” rule came about. Not more than 3 days after I finished the last jar of peanut butter, I had quite a hankering for some fabulous nutty spread.

What to do, what to do? I realized I had just about a cup of almonds left in a huge Sam’s Club size bag, and the little voice in the back of my head remembered for the LONGEST time I’ve wanted to try to make my own almond butter. I just never did because, I could always buy it from a grocery store. Except for now, due to my new rule. So why did I make this? Here are my two arguments:

#1 This is ALMOND BUTTER, not peanut butter.
#2 I am not buying anything.

So technically, I’m not breaking any rules, right? Right.

This is every bit as delicious as the chocolate almond butter at Whole Foods. No wait, this is MORE delicious. It’s basically amazing. I can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner. I think I was just afraid the Magic Bullet Blender couldn’t handle it, but it did a great job!

Print

Chocolate Almond Butter

yields approximately 1/2 cup

Ingredients:

1 cup raw almonds
1 Tablespoon chocolate chips
1/2 Tablespoon cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark, cuz I LOVE it)
1-2 tsp peanut oil

Directions:

In Magic Bullet Blender (or food processor, Vita-Mix, or whatever is strong enough) pulse almonds until well-chopped. Once well chopped blend or continue to pulse until it becomes finely ground and begins to stick together like a dry paste. Add in chocolate chips and cocoa. Blend until well combined. (At this point mine was still a dry paste that didn't hold together in a spreadable form, and wasn't moving around anymore when I pulsed the blender.) Add peanut oil, and blend until it becomes a spreadable paste. Add more oil if necessary.

I kept mine in the fridge, but before I used it, I zapped it in the microwave for short bursts until it was spreadable again.

And this time last year, I was enjoying some Cranberry White Chocolate Bars and Margaritas (I know, in November?).