Grind Your Own Almond Butter

Making almond butter at home is a snap- if you have a WonderMill Junior Deluxe hand crank mill that is. I bought mine a looooong time ago and have only used it for the singular task of milling grains. Why I haven't tried peanut butter or almond butter before is beyond me, but the thought that I ought to try finally crossed my mind.

It is really, really simple. I bought some raw almonds and roasted them in the oven. Pretty simple, spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake at 350 degrees. Give them a little stir every 5 minutes. It took my almonds 20 minutes to get to the toasty-ness that I liked. One of the bonuses of grinding your own nut butters is that you can add (or not add) the amount of oil, sugar and salt you want to be in your butter. We had a jar of name brand peanut butter on the jar, so I went and took a look at it. It has 16 (16!!!!) ingredients on the label. That almond butter up there in the picture? 3. 3 ingredients: almonds, honey and a teeny, tiny pinch of sea salt.

I highly recommend this grinder for this! It was easy to use, the clean up was simple and the butter was smoother than I can buy at the store. I was really impressed.  The oil in the almonds makes turning the crank a breeze and it took about 10 minutes to grind the 3 cups of almonds into about a pint of butter. Make sure you are using the stainless steel burrs, the stone burrs will gum up and you will have a serious mess on your hands.

After grinding, clean up took little to no time at all. I just removed the flour shield and the stainless steel burs, washed them in the sink and set them aside to dry. The mill itself, I just undid the clamp and ran some water through the mill itself. I used the spray hose to make sure there weren't any little almonds hanging out in there. I dried it off as best I could and then set it aside to dry completely. Obviously, you aren't going to want to grind anything in the mill until it is completely dry.

I stirred in some honey and a pinch of salt into my almond butter. What you add, or how much, is completely up to you. Cinnamon, cocoa or even sugar or brown sugar could be added as to taste. This makes a really good spread for toast and on crackers! My kids have been enjoying it so much that in less than one day, there is only this much left!

Do you make your own almond butter? What do you use to make it- a grain mill or a food processor? I'm enjoying this handy grain mill. Not only can I grind flours, meals and crack grains- I can also grind oily seeds and nuts to create my own butters! Sunflower butter is up next for me, I can hardly wait.

This was an interesting and educational experiment for me. I really enjoy my WonderMill grain mills, they are some of the biggest workhorses I have in my kitchen. It's nice to have an appliance like this that you can count on AND that can do so many things. It gets my full stamp of approval!

This review is my honest opinion of a product. I purchased the grain mill myself and this is my personal experience with the product. I love this product and wanted to share it with all of you.