Vanilla Almond Sun Butter
/1. How is it already September 9th?
2. It’s finally cooling down here after a month-long heat wave.
3. I despise painting ceilings.
4. Taping off walls and trim is worse than painting ceilings.
Phew. Okay. Now I can move on.
---
This is long overdue.
Just like my library books.
I should probably have to pay you guys because it’s been so long.
I don’t even remember the last time I made a new nut butter recipe. I almost went savory with this batch, but at the last minute decided to give it a vanilla-sweet spin.
While I typically use maple syrup or honey for a sweetener I decided to do a little something different this time.
I used muscovado sugar to give this nut-butter a hint of caramel sweetness. What is muscovado sugar, you ask? It’s basically an unrefined version of brown sugar. The natural caramel + molasses flavors that come from sugar cane are retained instead of being processed out. This results in the most amazing caramel-vanilla-molasses-sugar flavor, pretty much ever.
Did you know that typical brown sugar is actually highly refined white sugar with caramel color and molasses flavor added back into it? Believe it or not brown sugar is actually more refined than white table sugar. I learned this a few years ago and it kind of blew my mind. I figured because it was brown it was more “natural.” Whoops.
Muscovado sugar is great for baking because of the deep flavor it lends, similar to sucanat and coconut sugar. So I thought, why not add it to nut butter?
A little sweet, a little salty, a little vanilla-kick.
Totally spreadable. Slightly addicting.
For a little change of pace from your typical almond butter, I decided to use a 50/50 mix of almonds + sunflower seeds with this batch.
While I love sunflower seedsI’m not a huge fan of actual sun-butter. However, the mix of almonds and sunflower seeds did the trick for me.
Vanilla Almond Sun Butter
gluten-free, vegan // yields ~1 1/4 cups
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1 cup raw sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar, sucanat or coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
- Preheat your oven to 300* F and place nuts/seeds in a single layer spread on a baking pan.
- Roast for 12-15min, stirring once halfway through, until light golden brown.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes then place in your high powered food processor [I use an 11c capacity] and add the salt and sugar.
- Turn on and let spin, scraping down the sides as needed, until buttery and smooth. ~7-10 minutes
- Add the vanilla bean paste and let spin again until smooth and very spreadable.
- Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for 1-3 months.
Spread over anything!
Toast. Oatmeal. Your finger. Apples. Pears. Crackers. Waffles. Pancakes. Crepes.
