Homemade Almond Butter with Sunflower Seeds

I’m on the homemade nut butter kick. I’ve made many attempts at making my own nut butters and just never getting the right consistency. I think this happens to a lot of us. Too dry, not creamy, hard to spread, such a mess! I just finished off a jar of almond butter with sunflower seeds mixed in as the crunchy part. This was of course a chocolate almond butter and didn’t last very long for me. It was delicious.

I was then inspired to try to make my own, once again and this time I was going to process the nuts until they were creamy and the blade was finally warm to bring everything together. 1/2 teaspoon olive oil was used to give it that extra smooth consistency. This is by far my favorite nut butter. I know that I only used 1/2 teaspoon of oil, I added my own sea salt and no sugar added.

This nut butter goes in tortillas, in a mug of bananas, spoonful's into my mouth, scooped on top of oatmeal and even in the vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream I purchased. You could even get some good quality dark chocolate and enjoy it that way as well.

Homemade Almond Butter with Sunflower Seeds
By Fallon

-2.5 cups of toasted whole almonds
- 1/2 toasted sunflower seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Start with making sure all nuts are roasted, 350 degrees for about 7 minutes or until you smell their aroma. You could also buy these pre-toasted at the store, just make sure they are fresh.

With your heavy duty food processor, add almonds and whirl for about 8-10 minutes. Use a spoon to scrape the sides every so often. Eventually it will smooth out and will form a ball. This is when I added my oil and continue to pulse. The ball will break and it will become a creamier consistency. Continue to whirl in the food processor and you will feel the blades doing their magic. They are very warm and it is helping to bring out all the natural oils in the almonds. Add salt and cinnamon to taste. Once you find that smooth and creamy consistency, pulse in the sunflower seeds. Don’t pulse too much because you want them to stay crunchy.

That is all. Super toasty, nutty and delicious. I make a new jar every weekend!

I’m also SO glad it is the weekend. That is the best thing about a Monday-Friday job.. Weekends off are so rewarding and refreshing. I get in my workouts early in the morning and then I can do whatever I want afterwards! I think my highlight for this weekend will be cheese,wine and crackers. Oh so relaxing.

Fallon