Friday, January 21, 2011

Walnut and Chocolate Almond Butter

The second I opened my food processor on Christmas Eve, I knew what I would be making first; WALNUT BUTTER! I've always searched for it at the store, thinking to myself, "they make peanut, almond, soy nut, cashew, and even sunflower seed butter, but why not walnut butter?!".




I don't get essential ALA (alpha linolenic fatty acids) from many sources. I don't eat a lot of flaxseed, I don't use a lot of canola oil (I prefer olive oil) and I'm not big on soy, so walnuts are my main source of this essential fat. When I made my walnut butter I decided I wanted to add some cocoa roasted almonds too.



These are a new addiction of mine. They are made by Emerald and they taste like magic in my mouth.

The nutrition facts are very similar to almonds, but I swear they taste like Oreos! Some of you will probably look at the ingredients and turn up your nose because of the artificial flavors and the potato starch. I, on the other hand, am not too bothered by this. I don't eat them often, so who cares?!


When making my "walnut and chocolate almond butter" I used 3.5 cups walnuts, and one half cup dark chocolate almonds.


Like magic, four minutes later I had butter!


And this was certainly not just any butter, this was the most amazing nut butter I have ever tasted. I'm not kidding.


I've been eating it with my morning oats ever since.

QUESTION: Have you ever made your own nut butter?

25 comments :

  1. I really want to try that "oreo" like almonds now!!! :D
    I haven't made walnut butter, only almond butter, talking about that... I think I haven't made it in ages!!! I don't know why... just not into nut butter lately.

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  2. i've never made my own but you may have just inspired me- this looks incredible!!!

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  3. ahh this sounds so good! I made my own pecan butter once!! SO GOOD

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  4. what an awesome idea!! I've tried those chocolate almonds when they're handed out at races. Yum! Good thing they are always in small packages!

    I haven't made my own, but would love to try when I have a food processor powerful enough!

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  5. I made almond butter a lonnnng time ago, but I kind of burned the almonds when I was toasting them. I need to give it a go again!

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  6. No, I have never made nut butter myself, but it's on my "list" of things I want to make. Yours sounds amazing!!!

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  7. I have never made my own nut butter before, but I see Almond butter in my future! Maybe even this weekend!

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  8. This sounds really delicious, Gina! I wonder why noone has made walnut butter so far?

    I have made homemade almond butter before, and it was so good!

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  9. that looks so good! i've been thinking about trying to make my own with almonds but i may give walnuts a try too! thanks for the inspiration!

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  10. Yum, this sounds delicious. I've tried the choc. almonds and they are surprisingly great! I often grind up nuts and seeds in my coffee grinder and put them on my oatmeal, but it makes more of a powder than a nut butter...I wonder if using the food processor would make a big difference.

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  11. Walnut butter was the first one I made in my food processor too. I'm surprised there isn't more walnut butter around--it's so creamy! I've also made cinnamon vanilla almond butter. I'll have to try making nut butter with those chocolate almonds!

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  12. I have not made my own nut butter but I'm interested to try it - I would have to make soy nut butter.

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  13. Looks great! I've made almond, cashew, and pecan butter. I always feel like I'm having dessert when I eat nut butters!

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  14. we have like 4,000 or just like 7 of those emerald containers in the pantry haha when they go on sale deej and i hoard them like CUHrazy! we also have a bunch of the cinnamon roasted ones which are equally as amaze! i want to try and make my own AB but i don't want to waste the almonds hahaha so i think i'll just stick with peanut butter bought and save myself the horror hahaha but i also think you need to sell that walnut butter as well!

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  15. I'm sad that I don't have a food processor. I would be too afraid to make it explode though while making a nut butter. I don't think I have seen walnut butter anywhere except for teeny expense containers at Whole Foods, so this looks great!

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  16. Looks awesome. I am not a walnut fan, but it is more the texture than the flavor, so I bet I would like this. I have made PB so far and have other nuts waiting to be made into butters. That is why I asked for one for the holidays too. So glad you got one.

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  17. I've tried a few times to make pecan butter, but despite my best efforts, they just don't want to process any further than crumbs :(

    I did make coconut butter once, but I nearly burned out the motor in my food processor (which made me sad because it's not that old and it's pretty heavy duty).

    I'm superbly envious of cocoa roasted almonds though! We don't get them in Australia :(

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  18. I haven't made my own nut butter, but have always wanted to try...how long does this last? And does it need to be refridgerated?

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  19. That looks incredible!!

    I eat around 100 grams of protein a day, I think ;)

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  20. I have never made my own nut butter but I should probably try- this sounds AMAZING.

    Also I was afraid of the Neti pot too and Eric kept laughing at me about it so I tried it out. The first time I did it I could not stop laughing haha.

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  21. We love making homemade pb and cashew butter - how have I never made walnut butter yet?? :-) brilliant idea!! The cocoa almonds are soooo yummy - I'm in love with the idea of them in nut butter!!

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  22. I like how the almond package says on there
    CONTAINS ALMONDS

    I make home-made nut butters about once every 2 weeks or so....they are awesome to use in baking recipes, and I save jars for eating "straight up"

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  23. I keep saying I'm going to make my own nut butters, and I still haven't done it...but this sounds amazing!!! I've been wondering about those almonds, since I'm such a choco-holic. Can't wait to try this!

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  24. I love making my own nut butters! I've done peanut, almond, cashew, cinnamon almond and walnut. Never thought to add the cocoa roast almonds. Great idea and we just starting getting these in Canada so they're readily available now!

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