Try our Vanilla and Honey Almond Butter recipe for delicious twist on classic nut butter. Make your own homemade almond butter with just 5 ingredients and a food processor. Homemade nut butter is so easy to make and if your family can get through a jar in a day, then this will save you a fortune too. Sweet and salty roasted almonds, blended in to a smooth and creamy butter.
A lot of nut butter on the supermarket shelves has a lot of added salt and sugar, whereas this recipe has just a touch of honey and a pinch of salt to add a lovely sweet and salty combo. Just a quick warning, you are not going to be able to control yourself around a jar of this! On toast, in a smoothie or just straight out of the jar - homemade nut butter just got even better.
This is the perfect addition to a breakfast spread. Serve it alongside our Strawberry Puree and Homemade Healthier Nutella with some pancakes and waffles, and you have yourself a breakfast feast. Do you want to know how to make almond butter? Read on!
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Why should I try it?
- Cheap - Almond butter can be really expensive in the shops, but if you can bulk buy almonds then making it yourself is much cheaper. You usually only find flavoured nut butter in speciality stores too, and they can be pricey.
- Adaptable - We have added honey and vanilla to flavour it, but there are a few other options for flavouring it that we have added below. You can even use different nuts.
- No waste - The great thing about making it yourself is that you can make exactly the amount you need, so nothing goes to waste.
- Easy - This is so easy. We have roasted the almonds first, as we think it gives a better flavour. But other than that, it is as simple as blending it all up.
What you will need
- Almonds - We used standard skin on almonds, as they are the cheapest to buy and you can usually buy them in bulk.
- Honey - This is what sweetens the almond butter. Buy the best quality that you can afford, as you really can taste the difference.
- Vanilla - This adds so much flavour. Use vanilla extract rather than essence.
- Coconut oil - This helps to loosen up the mixture a little, which makes it easier to blend. But it also gives it that creamy and silky texture.
- Salt - Just a pinch of salt adds so much flavour and balances out the sweetness of the honey perfectly. You could leave it out though if you prefer.
Step by step
One: Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Mix the melted coconut oil and honey together.
Two: Spread the almonds over a lined baking tray, pour over the honey/coconut oil mixture and mix until all the almonds are coated. Put in the oven for 15 minutes. Once roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.
Three: Put the roasted almonds, vanilla, any remaining honey and salt (if using) in to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth. You will need to keep stopping the blender and pushing the mixture down. This can take up to 20 minutes.
Nut butter variations
There are a couple of ways that you can adjust this recipe. Firstly, you can change the nuts that are used. Sure, this is almond butter, but why not try making a honey and vanilla cashew butter? Or even pecan or peanut butter? You can even use a mixture of nuts.
You can also adjust the flavours that are used. One of our favourite ways to do that is to make a chocolate version of this. A couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder adds a lovely richness to the nut butter.
How to use almond butter
To be honest, we are happy to just eat it out of a jar with a spoon! But that isn't the healthiest choice. Luckily, there are so many different ways to serve this and here are some of our favourites:
- Dip apple slices in it
- Put it in porridge
- Spread on our Healthy Banana Bread
- On toast
- As a pancake topping
- On waffles
- Add it to a smoothie
- In a croissant
- Melted and drizzled over ice cream
- Dip strawberries in it
- As a cake frosting
FAQs
Yes, we really recommend that you roast the almonds first, as it will make such a difference to the taste and texture of the finished spread.
It will take 10-15 minutes to blend nice and smooth, depending on your food processor. At the beginning, it will look like it isn't doing anything and you will think it isn't working. But, keep stopping it and scrapping down the sides and it will all come together beautifully. Trust the process.
The more powerful your food processor, the quicker it will be to make homemade almond butter. We used a Morphy Richards PrepStar, which is great if you are making a large batch. However, the batch we made was quite small, so we used a NutriBullet instead.
The great thing about this homemade almond butter is that you can make a huge batch of it and keep it for easy meals and snacks. You can keep it in a jar in the cupboard for a month or in the fridge for for up to 3 months. Keeping it in the fridge will harden it though.
To make a vegan version of this almond butter, you just need to swap the honey for maple syrup.
If you find that your almond butter is too thick (this really is a preference thing), then you can add a teaspoon of melted coconut oil, until it is your preference consistency.
Extra tips
- Making this recipe is pretty loud! So maybe don't make it whilst anyone is trying to sleep, work or on an important phone call.
- You can add some extra flavour to this vanilla almond butter with a pinch of cinnamon. It works with nutmeg or ginger too.
- Buy raw almonds and roast them yourself, rather than buying roasted almonds. This will save you a lot of money.
- This would make a lovely homemade gift. Buy a fancy jar with a lid and then fill it up with your homemade almond butter and wrap a pretty ribbon round it.
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Recipe
Vanilla and Honey Almond Butter
Ingredients
- 200 g almonds
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla Extract
- 2 tbsp coconut oil melted
- 1 pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Mix the melted coconut oil and honey together.3 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp coconut oil
- Spread the almonds over a lined baking tray, pour over the honey/coconut oil mixture and mix until all the almonds are coated. Put in the oven for 15 minutes. Once roasted, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes.200 g almonds
- Put the roasted almonds, vanilla, any remaining honey and salt (if using) in to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth. You will need to keep stopping the blender and pushing the mixture down. This can take up to 20 minutes.200 g almonds, 1 tsp vanilla Extract
Notes
- Making this recipe is pretty loud! So maybe don't make it whilst anyone is trying to sleep, work or on an important phone call.
- You can add some extra flavour to this vanilla almond butter with a pinch of cinnamon. It works with nutmeg or ginger too.
- Buy raw almonds and roast them yourself, rather than buying roasted almonds. This will save you a lot of money.
- This would make a lovely homemade gift. Buy a fancy jar with a lid and then fill it up with your homemade almond butter and wrap a pretty ribbon round it.
Biana
Looks amazing! I love how you are adding honey and vanilla to almond butter, they add so much flavor.
Gina
I haven't made homemade nut butter in years but this is inspiring me to get back at it - SO much more affordable and I love having control of the flavors, definitely adding some vanilla and honey like you've done here!