Homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter

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So yeah, I freaking adore almond butter.

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My uncle always told me that when I was really little, I would always shout out “I love it, I love it, I love it!” before I finished opening up my birthday presents. I wouldn’t even know what it was yet, but I knew it was an exciting box wrapped with even more exciting wrapping paper. Even if it was a bright orange sock wrapped with string, I knew I’d love it. A present is a present, right?

Now I’m all grown up and though I don’t still shout those words when opening presents, I often think them when I’m eating almond butter. Lately I’ve been going crazy for it smeared on my all time favorite cinnamon raisin toast. Or just normal toast with cinnamon and sliced bananas. I love it in Greek yogurt with 100% fruit strawberry jelly. I love it in snickerdoodle smoothies.

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But this is no shocker. I mean I wrote a whole post about my almond butter obsession. So you can imagine my utter dismay when I went to Trader Joe’s multiple times to find nothing but empty shelves of my beloved raw creamy almond butter. After another unsuccessful attempt to restock my raw almond butter supply at Whole Foods, I ran home and googled “almond butter shortage.” I was dying to know what was keeping me from my almond butter. I’m sure lots of you are wondering the same thing, too! I mean a life without almond butter is like a life without clothing, food and shelter. I need it to survive!

WHO ATE ALL THE ALMOND BUTTER??!?

It turns out that a nationwide shortage of honeybees is what’s causing the global almond shortage. Click here to read the article. I thought this part was pretty funny: “It looks like we’ve promoted almonds to the point where we need to start promoting bees,” said Mike Mason, a member of the board of directors for the Almond Board of California, a trade group.

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Anyway, what’s a girl to do when there’s no almond butter to be found? Whip out the food processor and make your own!

It’s super easy. I bought a bag full of raw almonds in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. If you prefer the roasted kind, you could always buy roasted almonds. Dump them in the food processor and blend them for about 15 minutes, scraping down the sides every couple minutes. It takes quite a while and you may be scared that your food processor is going to blow up, but I promise it won’t. I don’t like to add any salt, sugar or oil because I like the pure raw flavor, but I had a ridiculous amount of super dark chocolate, so I melted a couple squares of that toward the end and tossed it in in the last couple minutes. If you like it sweeter, add a tablespoon of pure maple syrup and a pinch of salt.

Just remember: you’ll think it’s done, but it’s not. The longer it blends, the smoother it’ll get as the almond release their oils. Blend baby, blend!

Homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter

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5.0 from 1 reviews

Homemade Dark Chocolate Almond Butter
 
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Alexis:
Serves: ¾ cup

Ingredients
  • 1½ cups raw almonds
  • 2-3 oz quality dark chocolate
  • pure maple syrup, to taste (optional)

Instructions
  1. Blend almonds in a food processor for about 10 to 15 minutes, scraping down the sides every couple of minutes.
  2. When almond butter looks smooth and creamy, pause and melt the chocolate in the microwave in thirty-second intervals. Once melted, add to food processor. Blend for a minute more or until it’s all mixed in.
  3. Sweeten with pure maple syrup (about a tablespoon) to taste, if you’d like.
  4. Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.

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Here are a few more delicious looking homemade almond butter recipes!

 

Vegan Date-Sweetened Banana Mango Coconut Muffins

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I have to tell you a secret.

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These little gems have no added sugar and no oil. Shhhhhhhh! And no, they don’t taste like cardboard. Or Grape Nuts.  I swear.

Last weekend, I really had an itch for banana bread. I made a fabulous one for the boyf and the healthiest thing about it was the bananas.  But who cares if it’s called best-ever banana bread, right? I ditched the cream cheese frosting and used chocolate chips instead of pecans. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. White flour, brown sugar, the whole shebang…. and it was sinfully good.  Perfectly moist and loaded with chocolate chippies just like I like it.

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It’s not always kale and lentils over here! It’s the kind of dessert I would make for a friend or a gathering, not something I would want sitting around my own house tempting me all day long. If you need a not-so-healthy but oh-so-delicious banana bread to please a bunch of people then that recipe is the one.

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If you’re feeling sugar overloaded after eating, oh I don’t know, just Jeni’s cloverton ice cream with salty caramel sauce and donut gravel….then make this one. It’s sweetened with overripe bananas and dates, so you don’t have to worry about eating three teaspoons of added sugar with each bite.  I basically took my beloved dark chocolate chunk banana bread and changed it a bit to adapt to my tropical mango coconut obession. I originially planned on making it as a loaf, but since the boyf still had my loaf pan, I made them into muffins. You could easily make this in a loaf pan, but you’ll have to bake it much longer (about an hour or so).

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Using almong meal in baking makes the end product so ridiculously moist. As I’ve mentioned before, I get mine at Trader Joe’s in the baking section for $3.99. It’s a great sub for traditional flour, whether you follow a gluten-free diet, a low carb diet, or an I-just-want-a-really-moist-muffin diet. These muffs are packed with nutritious goodies like oats, almonds, applesauce, bananas and ground flaxseed. They’re vegan, gluten-free (as long as you use certified gluten-free oats) and truly a snack you won’t feel guilty about.

Guilt-free muffies are where it’s at, people!

Vegan Date-Sweetened Banana Mango Coconut Muffins

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Vegan Date-Sweetened Banana Mango Coconut Muffins
 
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Prep time

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Alexis:
Serves: 12-14

Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 10 dates
  • 1½ cups mashed very overripe bananas (3 medium bananas)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 heaping cup rolled oats, ground into a flour in food processor
  • ½ cup rolled oats
  • ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted
  • ¼ cup ground flaxseed
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup chopped mango

Instructions
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with liners.
  2. Blend together applesauce and dates in a food processor until well mixed. Add bananas and vanilla and blend until smooth.
  3. Spread coconut out in an even layer on a plate. Toast in microwave at 20 second intervals, stirring after each one, until lightly browned. You could also do this in a pan over medium heat.
  4. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients (almond meal through cinnamon) until very well mixed.
  5. Pour wet ingredients (banana mixture) into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in mango chunks.
  6. Pour batter into greased muffin tin. Bake for about 22 to 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.
  7. Cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

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