Last June, my blog buddy Ashley came for a visit! It was our first time meeting ‘in real life’. I was nervous and basically had hot flashes anticipating her arrival.
Luckily, we hit it off. :)
We bonded over foodie gifts..
Oatmeal.
[That would be my favourite VOO –> Cherry Chocolate Bomb Vegan Overnight Oats]
Photography…
And hiking!
Oh, and nut butter. It was on this visit that Ashley gave me some of her Maple Cinnamon Almond Butter and Salt-Kissed Cashew Butter. Before then, I was always a Homemade Raw Almond Butter kinda gal, but she inspired me to experiment with other homemade nut butter flavours!
I have since made 4 Ingredient Dark Chocolate Almond Butter…
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter and Dark Chocolate Pecan Butter
Clearly my nut butters are simply another vessel for chocolate. I blame PMS.
Yesterday, I made a spin-off of Ashley’s Vanilla Bean Maple Almond Butter. It was also inspired by Naturally Nutty’s Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter made with chia, flax, and hemp seed that I spotted on Kath Eats. I thought the idea of adding chia, flax, and hemp seed was a great way to sneak in more nutrients.
And I’m totally down for anything that gives me another reason to eat nut butter!
Maple-Cinnamon Superseed Almond Butter
Yield
1 1/4 cups (310 mL)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is easily the most delicious almond butter I've ever tasted! The secret to this incredible nut butter is to coat the almonds in maple syrup, hemp hearts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds, and then roast it all until fragrant and golden. After processing for about 5 to 10 minutes, it turns into the creamiest, "drippy" nut butter ever. I love adding a healthy portion of cinnamon, fine sea salt, and pure vanilla bean powder (or extract) to take it over the top. You'll be enjoying this spread straight out of the processor bowl—I can promise you that! I recommend using a heavy-duty food processor when making nut butters; the smaller machines just don't have the power to do the job and might burn out.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole raw almonds
- 2 tablespoons whole flaxseeds
- 2 tablespoons hemp hearts
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 3 tablespoons (45 mL) pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tablespoon (7 mL) coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- 1 teaspoon (5 mL) pure vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) pure vanilla bean powder
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the almonds, flaxseeds, hemp hearts, chia seeds, and maple syrup until combined.
- Spread the almond mixture onto baking sheet in an even layer. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
- Remove from oven and allow the almond mixture to cool for 10 minutes before placing into a food processor.
- Add the almonds into the food processor along with the coconut oil. Process for about 5 to 10 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl every 60 seconds, or as needed. (Be sure to leave the processor chute uncovered so the steam from the almonds can escape.) The mixture will be very drippy and smooth when ready.
- Add in the cinnamon, salt, and vanilla and process until combined.
- Remove the almond butter and store in a glass jar or a container with an airtight lid. If the almond butter is still warm, allow it to come to room temperature before securing the lid.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Have you ever made homemade nut butter before?
It is really quite easy if you have a processor or blender that will do the work. This recipe requires more time than any nut butter recipe I have made before (due to the almond roasting), but it was so worth it in the end!
Mix together the almonds, chia, flax, hemp, and maple syrup. Spread out onto a lined baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, stirring once half way through, at 300F.
After 30 minutes of roasting:
Eric came into the kitchen when I was making this yesterday morning and he said, ’Mmm it smells amazing in here! WOW!
When I told him that I was making nut butter, he was crushed (he hates nut butter).
He thought I was making waffles!
I pity the fool.
For the first 5 minutes of processing, stop and scrape down the bowl every 30-60 seconds as needed. In the initial stages, I stop every 30 seconds or so.
After 5 minutes (half-way point):
After 5 more minutes of processing, my nut butter was ready! I added in the cinnamon, salt, and vanilla around minute 9.
I won’t tell you how much fun licking the bowl is. That would just be mean.
It makes about 1 and 1/4 cup.
The result is an almond butter with a deep roasted flavour and layers of nuttiness with just a hint of sweetness. I didn’t detect the chia, hemp, or flax flavours specifically, but I was happy knowing they were in there!
I enjoyed some apple slices spread with nut butter and strawberry jam.
I
Unreal!
The clean up for this photoshoot was also a good time. ;)
If you’d like to make chunky almond butter, you can process or chop some almonds and then stir it back into the almond butter. I think I will try that next time!
Does anyone know if I can make nut butter in my Vitamix without a DRY container? I’m scared to ruin it!
Have a great Monday!
This is BY FAR the best nut butter I have ever made or tasted! Thank you! I don’t think you can use your vitamix to make nut butters. Not wet enough and motor will burn out! I will never complain about my very heavy Cuisanart food processor again! It did the job great for this recipe;)
Always looking for a bit of sweetness to add to my lunch, and this coupled with sliced apple totally did the trick. LOVE IT!
Glad to hear it, Lori!
After poor results for this recipe from the Oh She Glows Cookbook I came online to see if I could read some comments from anyone suffering from the same thing. I just couldn’t get my butter to be creamy. The problem became clear on this site .Upon reading the ingredients here, 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil is called for, in the book 1-2 TEASPOONS. Big difference to be sure even considering here there is flax,in the book there is not.
As usual most comments were about how great a recipe sounds and not how good it tastes.
For those of you who are having trouble with this recipe and are fortunate enough to have both a good quality food processor and a high speed blender, I found a solution.
So I am a boring and predictable person who likes routine, and one of my routines is having a piece of sprouted bread with some sort of nut butter (and sometimes some chia jam if I’m feeling crazy) for a snack every day. So, suffice to say I have made my fair share of nut butters over the last few years.
This one was the most stubborn and difficult one I have ever made. I processed it with a full tablespoon of coconut oil until I feared the death of my processor. It got liquidy but not smooth – still chunks of nuts and seeds throughout. I tried to let my processor cool down and give it another go but I guess I had WAY overheated it. And then I spied my Breville Boss.
With about 30 seconds on the “Blend” setting (it’s a medium speed setting for those of you with Vitas and Blendtecs etc.), I had the smooth and creamy consistency pictured above.
The verdict? It’s pretty good. Worth it this time, but I won’t be remaking it. Probably more of a 3.5 just due to the struggle (it took me 2.5h all told – including the measuring/roasting/cooling) but I’ll be generous. :)
This looks great, and I think I’m going to make this as a gift for a friend. How long do you think this would keep?
Hi Robin, Oh, I hope your friend loves it! What a lovely idea for a gift. Stored in the fridge in an airtight container, it keeps at least a month.
Hi Angela, I make almond butter all the time in my wet vitamix container and I always have to add a little bit of coconut oil to get it going well, but once it is made, the oil goes to the top and I drain it so that I don’t have too much oil. It always turns out great. I am excited to try your recipe in my vitamix.
I need help. this totally seized on me! I sprouted and dehydrated my almonds and added to vitamin with 1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil and 3 T maple and the almonds got super creamy/blended – but it’s still a weird consistent with pockets of oil/liquid. Can’t get it ymmy and smooth, anyone else having issues?
Hey Carol, Water tends to make things like this seize. Is it possible your almonds weren’t fully dehydrated? I have never tested this recipe with sprouted and dehydrated almonds before.
Hi – I did some research and I think it seized because I used maple syrup direct,
I think when you cook it – it turns into sugar and not a liquid and therefore doesn’t seize.
But if there is additional help please let me know!
Also – I SEE YOU POSTED WITH MY FULL NAME – please remove just my first name please – did not realize it would be published this way!!! Thanks!!!
I just made this in my vitamix with out the dry container. Worked just fine. And the almond butter was delicious!
I really want to make the almond butter bad but my Vita Mix is 30 years old and aluminum. The first time I tried, I put 2 cups of raw almonds in and all I got back was almond meal. :(
I made this today but it came out so much darker looking than yours. I had flaxmeal on hand and used that instead of whole flax seeds. Maybe that is why? Besides that, it is absolutely the best nut butter I have ever smelled or tasted!
I’m so glad you love it even if it turned out darker :) Enjoy!
Hi
This sounds great, can’t wait to try it.
I also love to make the brown rice crispy squares, but can’t find the brown rice syrup anymore in Ontario, do you know where to get it, or what I could use instead. I was told this is discontinued?
Love all your recipes, keep up the great work!!
Hi Leanne, Yes it’s out of stock everywhere…I think it was a recall (because no one has it on the shelves), but apparently they said they are “changing packaging”…it’s not expected to be available for 2 more months. :( I am ALL OUT and missing my glo bars and crispy squares! lol.
Hi there. I’m making your crunchy roasted almond butter in the cookbook
When any recipe calls for coconut oil. How do I know if I can use the solid kind ? I have nutiva coconut oil and Raw coconut oil in a jar. In solid form
I do have Sat Francis coconut oil liquid form. What do I do ? :) tnx
Sue
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe. I have tried making almond butter a few times with different recipes (not great results) and did not realize baking could make such a big difference. I was about to give up but I kept reading everyone talk about how easy and how delicious it was so I kept trying then I found your recipe. Adding in cinnamon and maple syrup and all the other ingredients make all the difference. Thanks again!!
Hello, this says “oil free” yet there is 1/2Tb in the recipe. Is it necessary? Thanks