Homemade nut butter
adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen cookbook
I'm a big fan of homemade goodies; in part, because I think they taste much better and also because you get to choose exactly what goes in them. And while I know nut butters are convenient to buy in the store, I urge you to try making this recipe at home. With the addition of cinnamon, coconut oil and a little raw honey, this nut butter becomes some kind of special.
Hazelnut-almond butter
1 cup raw hazelnuts
1 cup raw almonds
1 tsp coconut oil or olive oil
1.5 tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
3/4 TBS raw honey
There are two ways to roast nuts. With enough time, my preference is to soak them and roast them long and slow to preserve more nutrition and make them more digestible:
Soak hazelnuts and almonds overnight in salted water. The water should taste like the ocean. Drain.
Spread on a cookie sheet and roast at the lowest setting for 8-12 hours until crisp and dried through. Once cool, rub the hazelnuts between your hands to remove the skins.
If you're in a time pinch, you can roast them at 350' until fragrant and lightly golden brown and then proceed with the recipe.
In a food processor or high speed blender (Vitamix), combine the nuts and salt and grind for about a minute. Add in the oil and cinnamon and turn machine on. The amount of time the machine will run will vary. I find that the hazelnuts are a bit oilier, so the butter loosens up a little more quickly than with just almonds. That being said, you will see it ball up for a bit as it swirls around. It should eventually loosen and look like a paste. Grind until your desired smoothness. I usually run mine about 4-8 minutes. Transfer to a glass jar. Mix in honey. Taste for salt and sweetness and adjust as desired. A quick note: adding the honey at the end and mixing it by hand avoids the butter seizing together which it will do if you try to mix in the honey with the food processor. Will keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
