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!