On Tuesday, Eric said the Enchiladas with Cilantro Avocado Cream Sauce would be the best recipe all week.
Today, I politely disagree. :)
(And I secretly thought he would be right!)
After making this recipe yesterday, I announced it was the best recipe of the week.
Eric rolled his eyes. He just doesn’t ‘get’ nut butter!
Let’s see, this recipe is…
- Delicious & addicting
- Creamy, smooth, buttery, with a hint of cinnamon and maple
- Thrown together in 60 seconds flat. (2 mins. if you can’t find the cinnamon!)
- Long-lasting in the fridge (I made that up, but I assume so)
- Versatile- You can eat it every day with many different foods
- Customizable- You could make many different flavours
- You could make this nut free by using sunflower seed butter and a non-nut milk
- FUN! You can use it as a dip, spread, mix in, topping, or main food group (ok maybe that’s just me)
Are you excited yet?
This little gem of a recipe called, ABU, comes from Heather of Heather Eats Almond Butter, which was adapted from Emily’s PBU recipe. Essentially, you blend almond butter (or nut butter of choice) with an equal portion of non-dairy milk and add any sweeteners, spices, or mix-ins you desire. I believe the names ABU & PBU are a play off of the PB2 powdered peanut butter product.
By doing this, you are doubling the volume of your nut butter, while preserving a creamy nut butter taste. It is also great for those of us who are sensitive to nuts. Normally, I get stomach pains when eating plain almond butter, but I didn’t have any when eating this ABU so that is a huge plus for me.
I saw this recipe on Heather’s blog a couple years ago and I am kicking myself for not making it sooner! I obviously need to get my priorities straight.
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Maple Cinnamon ABU
Lightly adapted from Heather’s ABU, which was adapted from Emily’s PBU. (Ok, I just laughed when typing that out)
Yield: Approx. 28 tablespoons or 1 and 3/4 cup
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup natural almond butter
- 3/4 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, or to taste
Directions: In a blender add your almond milk, followed by almond butter, maple syrup, and ground cinnamon. Blend until smooth. Store in the fridge in a sealed container. Makes 1 and 3/4 cups.
Nutritional Info: (Makes approx 28 tbsp) Per tbsp: 45 kcals, 4 grams fat, 0.4 grams sugar, 1 gram protein, 2 grams carbs.
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By making this, you are basically doubling the volume, and slashing the nutritional profile in half. The way I see it, I can eat twice as much now. ;)
I added a touch of cinnamon to the original recipe and increased the maple syrup by a couple teaspoons since I don’t use stevia. It was just amazing! My mind is already swirling with other flavour ideas. I will have to try it out with homemade almond butter too. Can you imagine how good this would be with Barney Butter? Or a vanilla bean?
It’s dreamy.
I tried it with a tart Granny Smith.
This was a very happy moment in my day. ;)
Some other ways you can enjoy ABU:
- Drizzled on oatmeal or VOO
- Drizzled over cereal
- Dips for fruit or veggies
- Topping for a dessert like a brownie or cake
- Spread on bread, muffins, or crackers
- Baked oatmeal
- messy s’mores
- Baked granola
- by the spoonful like I did!
- poured on Banana soft serve or ice cream
- poured over cooked vegetables like Broccoli (Heather does this!)
- Blended into smoothies or drizzled on top
How would you eat this? What mix-ins, spices, or nut butters do you think would be good in it?
Eric took the day off work today to begin deck construction! Shayne and Dan are here to help out which is awesome. Zac is coming after work tonight and we have more friends coming this weekend. What would we do without our dear friends? Thankfully, today is a sunny day, so they are going full force all day long!
Early this morning I headed out for a chilly half hour walk and did some Whittle My Middle and stretching when I returned. Walking is a great way to ease back into exercise after being sick. I don’t want to overdo it, but I also want to get active so it is a nice compromise. I came back with a clear head and lifted energy to start the day.
Have a good one!
Oooh, this looks creamy dreamy! I’ve been meaning to make this PBU/ABU for forever! Thanks for reminding me to do it! :)
Wow this looks so amazing! I think I might try it today! Maybe some cocoa powder, PB, maple syrup and almond milk would taste like PB chocolate heaven…hmmm something to try. Thanks for the recipe ;)
Good for you for easing back into exercise. That’s almost harder for me than not exercising at all. I tend to hit the ground running, trying to make up for lost time, and then I re-injure myself, or whatever the case may be. It’s a lesson I keep learning over and over. I will, however, be making this almond butter…maybe a pumpkin version? :D
I love how the food in your pictures just drips all over the place, lol. That would drive me nuts, but looks wonderful for photography!
That looks heavenly!! Your pics are always so gorgeous!
Your photos are always so appetizing :) I’m going to have to try PBU/ABU! I blend pb into yogurt sometimes and use it as a dip for apples and bananas.
I can not wait to try this, thanks for sharing!
Oh my goodness, these photos are gorgeous! I love the bright pink and green. I think I definitely need to make this…maybe I’ll use my PB & Co cinnamon raisin swirl!
Sadly, I can’t eat almond butter, cause my throat gets itchy when I eat almonds. :(
But I would think I could do the same thing with peanut butter or cashew butter…don’t you think? This looks too delicious to pass up!
It does! I just tried it with my homemade cashew butter and with my homemade ‘nutella’.
Thank you SO much for this. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this idea before. I adore my nut butters but I am always too fearful of the high calories to eat them. So they just sit in my fridge, staring mournfully at me. This way, I feel like I have substance when I eat them. And both versions are DIVINE on apple or frozen banana slices! Thank you!
That looks DIVINE!!!
I am making your enchiladas tonight…. I can’t wait…. :)
xx
I want to make this ASAP! I always go overboard with putting peanut butter on apples because it is so dense and I end up using way more than 1 serving…but this is great because the consistency isn’t quite as dense!
Drippy ooey gooey goodness…nom. I really enjoy PB2 – in fact, now I’m craving it!
Oh. Snap.
My heart just skipped a beat.
Ow wow. What a great idea! Can’t wait to try!!!
I see you’re using your Apple Slicer. Seriously one of my fave kitchen gadgets. Call me lazy!
I can totally see myself eating (a non almond version) this with a spoon.
The consistency looks awesome! So drippy and creamy :) I’d definitely eat this with some messy s’mores or on top of pancakes/oatmeal!! Thanks for the milk tip!
I am excited–this looks amazing and i eat almond butter pretty much every day.
Suzanne Williams
I was just wondering, is there a reason why you don’t use stevia?
Yay for sunshine…finally!!
Hazelnuts + chocolate = heaven. I actually had plans to make something similar to your recipe today but using hazelnuts, almonds and some chocolate swirled in at the end!
I am an ABU/PBU virgin ~ I’ve never even heard of it before! I just so happen to have some natural peanut butter in my fridge and I think I’ll be making up my own special blend tonight. I love that you can cut the calories and customize your very own flavour – thanks for the great recipe!
Yummmm….I would have to add cocoa and cinnamon. I love chocolate + cinnamon together. If I left it plain, I would try dipping carrots and celery in it.
This is sort of a silly omni question, but I’m assuming I can use regular milk and it’ll work just as well? My family refuses to buy non-dairy milk outside of Lent and Advent (the only times of the year when we eat a vegan diet) but I’d LOVE to try this. Sounds genius.
Ohh, yum – this looks incredible.
I might be able to get my kids to eat sunbutter if I can mix it with other things they love. Baby steps right?
This looks amazing Angela! I will definitely be making this ASAP! Can I ask why you don’t use stevia? I’ve never used it myself, but I see lots of people using it.
I am not a huge almond butter fan, but these photos have me drooling!
This looks absolutely amazing. These pictures seriously have my mouth watering. I am in search of some almond butter today! Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to trying out this recipe.
www.birdietobe.blogspot.com
What a genius idea!!
Oh this is such a wonderful idea!!! I love nut butters but I’m watching what I eat because I want to lose weight, so this recipe comes just at the right time, thank you :)
That looks so delicious! I’ll have to check out HEAB’s original recipe!
Yum, I’ve always wanted to try one of these concoctions. I’ve seen them around…
http://goldhearted.etsy.com
Angela, I don’t know how you stopped yourself from eating the entire cup (or did you…)
Why haven’t I tried this either?! I want to try it with different nut butters as well, or even a combo of them…YUM! Thanks for sharing and thanks to HEAB as well!
I had no idea there was a whole movement!
I did this to thin out the Spiced Almond Butter I made the other day in order to toss it with quinoa. Deliciousness!
Yes, oooooh YES! I’m drooling. I’ve been buying Better n’ PB because I am nut butter obsessed and can definitely OD on the stuff, but I don’t like it’s “unnaturalness”. This may just be the answer to my craving. Now I can eat twice as much almond butter! ;) Must try immediately!!!
Wow – what a great way to make nut butter better! I could honestly eat half a jar in one sitting.. now I won’t feel so yucky if I do.. bye bye tummy pains!
YUM! finally I can eat a whole jar of nut butter ;) i love walks.. they’re so relaxing. probably my favorite form of exercise rather than running. walking = meditation to me!
I make something like this to put on my oatmeal sometimes. I love that it doubles the volume and helps to spread it all over my oats so that I get nut butter in every bite. :D
Drool inducing photos, recipe is phenomenal!
Genius. I’m doing it, because it looks amazing and almond butter is expensive!
Thinking out loud here, but since almond milk is just almonds + water, and almond butter is just ground almonds, couldn’t you just grind almonds and water with the seasonings to make this?? hmm. this may be an experiment for my vitamix!!
well, it didn’t take me long. I’m happy to report this does in fact work! I used 1 cup of chopped nuts (a mix of almonds and walnuts) and ~3/4 cup water. It’s easier and less mess than making almond butter OR almond milk. Next time I would use toasted nuts, but it is still amazingly delicious!
Smart idea, Ellen!!!
Love it! I have the last 1/8 of a jar of almond butter left. I didn’t stir the jar well enough so the bottom is on the dry side. This is a perfect way to turn the dregs into something fabulous.
Hm, last time I tried PBU/ABU, I wasn’t too impressed, but I think adding maple syrup and cinnamon would make it much better. I think I’ll try it out with jar of Barney Butter I bought!
Thanks Angela, I will SOOO be making this. (I have an almond butter addiction – and this will be fantastic!) Have a great day, hope the deck construction goes well.
That looks so creamy and delicious! Does the flavor get diluted at all?
Looks so yummy…especially if you do decide to make your own nut butter then go from there. I like the idea of mixing maple syrup in because I have a delicious one right now! I would probably stick to the basics for the butter itself, then try toping it on new things!
Oh my goodness, that looks amazing! I’m going to have to make that ASAP. Thanks for sharing!
Genius! I want this NOW!
I’ve been eating sweet almond butter sauce over baked sweet potatoes for years, ever since I started the anti-candida diet (it’s one of my all-time favorite breakfasts–so easy and lets you eat something sweet!). It’s soooooo delicious! Your photos are stunning, too! Love the name “ABU,” though. Leave it to Heather to come up with something so cute and catchy! (PS sent you an email in response to yours from the other day–did you get it?). ;)
I love how creamy this looks. I think it would be delicious over banana soft serve with some homemade vegan fudge sauce!