Chocolate Almond Butter

Last week I killed my food processor that I had for about 10 years. It was sad, but life goes on.
I considered hiring a ninja to replace the deceased kitchen tool.
Think about it for a moment, a ninja - in addition to mixing, chopping, blending and grating food - could be sent on missions to track down secrets, have enemies assassinated or plant misinformation. SIK.
But then I thought: wait, where would I “store” a ninja?
I couldn’t possibly leave him on the countertop or on a shelf (talking about crowding up your kitchen, right?)
Not to mention that I would need to feed him. And what does a ninja eat, say, for breakfast?
Moreover, what if he’s one of those people that wakes up super cranky in the morning. I certainly don’t want an angry ninja walking around my apt at 7am chopping my furniture.
Nah, too much of an hassle and not really a good idea after all.



So I dragged myself to the closest appliance store to my house to buy a new food processor.
I got very overwhelmed, there are like 100 different models of food processors available on the market.
Different brands, different sizes, different colors. It was all very confusing.
A store clerk came to help. “Well" he said "as you can see there is a large selection, but this one right here, it’s like the Ferrari of food processors”
As I love a Ferrari like the next guy, I bought it immediately.
Seriously, who doesn’t want a Ferrari food processor?



Now that amazing piece of kitchen technology resides on my countertop, in all of its glory.
I could cry everytime I look at it, it's so beautiful.
My extra-large, super-duper, nearly state-of-the-art food processor.
I have not come across a task that this food processor can’t handle.
My previous one would start to smell like it was burning up if I was processing something for more than 2 minutes.
This dude doesn’t even hesitate, it just plow right through.



I like it so much because I consider the food processor to be one of the most useful pieces of kitchen equipment there is.
It can replace the whisk, the pastry cutter, the mandolin, the mortar and pestle and the grater.
It can produce herb pastes, tapenade, hummus, salsas, seasoned oils, compound butters, banana ice cream, flax seed eggs and - last but not least - nut butters.
I could have never made nut butters in my old food processor, but now I can.
So there you have it, chocolate almond butter.



On some level, you probably already know that, sure, it’s super easy to make your own nut butters. But if you’ve never actually made homemade nut butter, I don’t think you quite understand how easy it is.
Nuts, meet food processor.
Food processor, it’s go time.
Almonds go through a few stages on their way to becoming spreadable almond butter. At first the mix looks crumbly and dry, but pulse a little longer and it starts resembling actual almond butter.
After about 15 minutes magic happens. What seemed like perfectly fine almond butter becomes soft, smooth and perfect almond butter.
This is the stuff that almond-buttery dreams are made of. Plus chocolate. Addictive.



Chocolate Almond Butter                                                                                                              Print this recipe!

Note. I prefer using roasted almonds because I like their deep flavor. Buying roasted almonds saves a little bit of time, but you can always roast them at home.
Place raw almonds on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 8 to minutes, flipping halfway through and making sure that they not burn.

Ingredients
Yields approximately 2 cups

2 cups / 10 oz / 283 gr unsalted roasted almonds
1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil (I used Nutiva)
2 oz / 56 gr dark chocolate (I used Dagoba)
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon raw coconut palm sugar (I used Madhava)
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Add almonds to the bowl of your food processor and run continuously for 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. At this point, the almond butter will look gritty and dry, almost like couscous.
Run the food processor continuously for another 3 minutes, then stop and scrape down the sides. At this point, the butter will start clumping together.
Run the food processor again, the nuts will start to release some of their oil, making the mass more pliable and more inclined to stay within the path of the spinning blade, so you won’t have to stop as often. Still, I recommend stopping the food processor every 3 minutes or so to give the food processor a break and to scrape the sides bottom of the bowl.
After 10 minutes, the mixture will start to look a lot more like nut butter.
Continue processing, it will take roughly 20 minutes in total to get a very smooth, creamy, and almost liquid like butter.
In the meantime, place coconut oil and chopped chocolate in a medium size heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the boiling water. Stir with a wooden spoon until chocolate and coconut oil are completely melted. Use pot holders to remove the bowl from over the boiling water. Let mixture sit for a few minutes.
Add melted chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, sugar, and sea salt to almond butter and process again until smooth.
Transfer to mason jar or container and store at room temperature or in fridge for up to 3 to 4 weeks.

Nutrition facts

One serving (about 2 tablespoons) yields 198 calories, 16 grams of fat, 9 grams of carbs and 4 grams of protein.