Homemade Almond Butter

Now that the Jewish holidays have concluded, along with their coterie of traditional foods, it's time to get back into regular snacking mode. One of my favorite snacks is apples with homemade almond butter.

Trader Joe's sells excellent almond butter, with options that include raw and roasted, chunky and smooth. You can also find plenty of competing brands at Whole Foods and Costco. However, homemade almond butter is in a class by itself. And it's super simple to make.

Make Your Own Homemade Almond Butter

1. Purchase: Buy organic almonds, if you can find them. Due to the high oil content in nuts, they easily absorb pesticides. A pound (16 ounces) should yield a pound of butter.

2. Roast: Use a baking sheet to roast your almonds in the oven for about 10 minutes at 350°F. Don’t roast for too much longer because the nuts could burn. Roasting will impart a deeper, much nuttier flavor than using almonds in their raw state. After roasting, let the almonds cool for about 10 minutes or until they are warm (and not hot).

3. Blend: If you have a high-speed blender, just run the blender on high until the almond mixture is creamy, making sure to stop and scrape down the sides every so often. The process takes a few minutes, so it might be a good idea to don headphones or earmuffs while blasting away at the almonds. Some high-end juicers can also make nut butter. (I used a Norwalk juicer.)

No other ingredients are necessary – not even added oil!

Pairing Almond Butter With Sweet Apples

Getting this snack just right involves more than just the right almonds. The variety of apple matters too. I've found that almond butter pairs best with sweeter varieties like Fuji, Gala and Honeycrisp. The flavors combine very elegantly. Blander apple varieties are tasteless with almond butter. Don't use green apples with almond butter; they taste awful.

A Healthy Replacement For Other Snacks

Apples with almond butter are a healthy replacement for many other snacks. These include dried fruit packs, fruit rollups, cookies and crackers, which collectively include tons of sugar, salt and bad fat.

In addition to apples, I’ve paired almond butter with celery sticks, included it in a (non-marinara-based) pasta sauce, added it to smoothies and spread it on toast. It’s so versatile – and it doesn’t have added sugar, preservatives, flavors or fillers.

What else have you paired with almond butter?