Easier Chocolate Almond Butter & a Winner!

Serendipity is an appropriate first word for this post.  Our contest involved suggesting seemingly odd pairings of food.  Sometimes those pairings re a matter of serendipity…. what is on hand,….. what accidentally was added or left out…. or a moment of inspiration.  The updated version of chocolate almond butter was also a result of serendipity.  That is being kind to myself.  It was actually a moment of doing way too many things at one time and therefore not paying attention.  So, let’s get organized, I will tell you the winner of 2 heavy, colored Food Network silicone spatulas at the end – and update our chocolate almond butter recipe at the beginning.

Our first version of chocolate almond butter:

Chocolate Almond Butter:

2 cups roasted almonds
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. liquid sweetener (I used Agave – maple syrup should be fine, honey might change consistency – could even be better!)
1 Tbs. walnut oil
A little time and patience… maybe another task in the kitchen to complete while doing this 

Put the roasted almonds and salt in the food processor, let it run until smooth and then add the other ingredients and process again until smooth.  The additional oil was needed because otherwise it was a little too dry.  I take you through the stages of roasted almond mash-ination in the original post, and as I mentioned, it is nice to have something else to do because it can take 10 minutes or so to reach smooth stage.  So one day I was doing many things and continued to do many-er things while my almonds were being ground up in the food processor.  “Why not step outside and do a little weeding?”  I thought.  Indeed.  It is very difficult to do a little weeding because there are rarely just ‘a little’ weeds!  So I was outside longer than I intended and when I came back in there was an odd wet slappy sound coming from the kitchen.  It was the sound of VERY smooth and wet almond butter flapping around in my food processor.  Yikes!  Too wet to put on a piece of bread or toast – quick what can I thicken it up with?  Well, of course I tried adding the cocoa and sweetener and lo and behold, no added oil required and it was the creamiest chocolate almond butter ever.  That Cuisinart is a tough little machine!

I have also made my chocolate almond butter a little less sweet by using 2.5 – 3 cups roasted almonds instead of 2, but the key is to let the almonds process until they are too loose for almond butter.  Then you add your other ingredients and it is easier, smoother and no added oil.  Voila!

New Chocolate Almond Butter

Old Chocolate Almond Butter

Now I’ll eat either version – on carrots or celery, toast, bread, my finger, a spoon, but I do prefer the taste and texture of the new version.  Hope that made your life a little easier!

And if you’re looking for a few interesting combos of food to try – check out our contest page featuring our Prune-Cardamom sauce as well as other ideas from readers including: Cilantro Kombucha, a suggestion from Sarah Auzina who is our contest winner!  Congratulations Sarah!

Have a wonderfully happy healthy day Readers!