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!
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!
Alright, all you ladies are MASTER GENUISES! I will be making this for sure. :) Happy Spring day to you!
This looks great! I eat so much of it, that it being half in cals really helps!
I will have to try and make this… I like the idea of being able to make a bigger portion… more bang for my buck :)
I never thought almond butter could be so photogenic. :P
I’ve done this before with bananas instead of milk and I’ve also seen recommendations for doing it with pumpkin (which I would guess is completely fantastic)!
bananas and pumpkin are wonderful ideas! The shelf life would probably be less though so I would probably make a half batch. Either way, it will be fun to experiment with. :)
this is absolutely brilliant!i am making this ASAP!
Woah, yum! My mom is visiting for Mother’s Day this weekend, I am thinking this, drizzled over steel cut oats will be perfect for one of our breakfasts!
Omg omg, so excited to try this!!!
:| sooo what you’re saying is I can eat DOUBLE the nut butter with the same amount of calories? Brilliant! I have so many clients [myself included] that will love this!
The sun was out this morning…but looks like rain now.
Looks interesting…nut butter with the milk hey? Do you need a fancy blender for that though??
The only problem is that I would just eat the whole bowl – so much for the calorie savings ;)
May I ask why you don’t use stevia??
Holy fantastic and bright photos today!!! LOVE the pink + green!!! I do this a lot, but just a single serving at a time. Love it!!! :) Heck yeah, WMM. I think I’m getting close to 1 month, but I wasn’t really counting the days. I walk a few times a week and really enjoy it, unless the dogs are acting like fools, then it stresses me out, hahahaa.
Thank you…could you tell the SUN was out in those pictures! What a difference the sunshine makes. We’ve had a month of rain and I noticed how it was making all my pics look crappy. Anyways thanks for noticing…I had fun doing this shoot yesterday!