Making nut butters can be a little tricky. I used to think that I had to do them in my Vitamix, which would drive me batty with all the scraping down that was required. Other times, I would have a fail, only because I quit too early. I didn’t realize how much time it takes, and the process that the nuts have to go through. But if you have a little patience, you can make nut butters that are fabulous. You will never want to buy them again!
I used my Kitchen Aid 12 cup food processor. It is a strong processor. The bottom warms up a little bit but if you are using an older processor, or a processor with a much weaker motor, common sense needs to prevail.
- 2 C Almonds
- 1 T Raw Honey (optional)
- 1/2 t Sea Salt (optional)
Place almonds in food processor. Process for 8-12 minutes. You will need to scrape down the sides in the beginning. If you choose to use the honey and salt, stir in by hand after the butter is made as it will seize the mixture if you try to add it before.
After 2 minutes it will look like this.
After 4 minutes it will look like this.
After 6 minutes it will look like this.
Around 8 minutes, the almond mixture will ball up. Just let it keep going.
At 10 minutes it has begun to redistribute, but it is not done yet. You want to wait until the oils get released.
At 12 minutes the almonds have released their oil and the butter is ready! If you want to add honey or salt, stir it in by hand.
*Chef’s Note: If using soaked, dehydrated almonds, you may need to add a little oil.
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Thank you so much for this – without your warning that it takes so long and the extremely clear pictures I would have given up a long time before the butter was ready. Amazing how oily it gets at the end without adding anything at all! And well done for all your patient replies to people’s comments
what’s the yield of butter from 2 cups almonds, Susan?
Actually more relevant to me would be the answer to how much in grams/cups almond butter is needed for the Raw Holliday Fudge recipe? …provided I do not have the necessary equipment yet to mash the almonds into butter.
Thank you.
Does it need to be refrigerated afterwards? The jars in the store are not refrigerated.
I keep mine in the refrigerator. The jars in the store are not made at home, from scratch. Almonds have oils that will go rancid.
Thanks for that guys, my machine wasn’t happy, overheated but cut out just in time.
If it wasn’t for the photos I would not have persisted even though it took me aaaaages to make cos my machine kept overheating. Thanks
Hi Susan! This recipe looks absolutely delicious. I will definately try it once I’ve finished my Spring Detox. Can’t wait!
Hi Susan! Thanks for the recipe. can I just use soaked almonds, with dehydrating them afterwards cause I don’t have one?
I am not sure exactly what you are asking here but do not use wet almonds in this recipe. If you don’t have a way to dehydrate them dry after soaking, just use them as is. Cheers!
thank you i have 28 year old cuisinart food proscessor but it keeps on going. if i find it neccesary to shut for cooling motor, will this affect outcome of the almond butter?
Yay almond butter, I love you. I am off to the shops to buy a kilo of almonds, lol. Who knew that almonds were so versatile. Thanks.
i was wondering i used some almonds to make almond milk, so they are ground up and a bit wet. will this affect the outcome of my butter?
You have to start with fresh, dry almonds. You can not use almond pulp for this recipe. Cheers!
Hi! Thanks for posting this. I just made some and it turned or well. Did have one question, could this technically be considered raw? It is my understanding that raw foods cannot be heated above 118 and still be considered raw. Checked the temp when I stopped to scrapethe sides of my processor and it read 160. Any way to avoid racing this high a temp. I let it rest several times to keep from overheating my food processor. Guesting it just take these kind of temps to release the oils and give you the butter?
I took the temperature of mine when I made it and it never even got close to 115 degrees. I am not sure why yours got so hot. Maybe your processor. No, it doesn’t have to get hot to release the oils.
Thank you Susan for providing the pictures! I make my own peanut butter frequently and that process is so fast that I probably would have scrapped the almond butter if I didn’t know how long it would take. I made a batch this morning and it was delish! Kind of a mild marzipan aftertaste….yummy.
What kind of magical food processor do you guys have? I’ve been processing for an hour now and it’s not even to the ball part yet. Should I try my blender instead??
If you have been processing for an hour, your processor doesn’t have the strength to do this recipe. I use a Kitchenaid.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, finally a raw almond butter recipe to my taste. The pictures are very helpful. My machine did stop as it overheated, nontheless the result is perfect!
Thank you!
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