ABU: Half The Calories, Double The Fun Almond Butter

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!