Saw a post about almond butter somewhere, and then I saw it was $8/jar plus shipping. Got me wondering if I couldn't make it myself, more cheaply and with control over the ingredients. Anybody done this?

I'm thinking of taking some unsalted almonds, putting them in a food processor and blending them with a little canola oil and maybe some Splenda.

If this works, I would also like to try a combination of almonds, pecans, black walnuts and maybe macadamias.

Any experiences? Thoughts? Think this is a nutty idea?

Also saw where someone "cuts" regular peanut butter with butter, might have to include some butter in my homemade nut butter.

Also, do I need to roast the nuts? Thinking I do. Maybe I'll roast them with butter, then grind them as smooth as possible and adjust the consistency with canola.

Hmm, wonder if a splash of roasted sesame oil would kick it up a notch?

I made the original post about the almond butter. It is very low in carbs. After I posted that thread I wondered the same thing, so I looked it up on the net. This is what I got http://southernfood.about.com/libra...sbb/blbb529.htm If you do try it, let me know how it works out!

Thanks for the reply. Interesting recipe, calls for less nuts than I would have thought. A whole stick of butter and only 1TBL of chooped almonds is what it called for. I'm going to try a version and up the nuts, and blend it pretty much smooth with either a stick blender or small food processor. The almond extract is an interesting idea though. That stuff gives a maraschino cherry-like flavor and aroma.

I was also thinking of adding a bit of barley malt, this is an ingredient in the commercial stuff. I know its sugar but it has a wonderful flavor and if I kept it under one gram carb per 2TBL, it might boost the flavor.

I'll try this in the next week and report back.

Anybody else have experience with making nut butters?

oh please let us know I love almond butter but its $12 a jar here!

Thats my motivation. I figure we should be able to make a jar out of $3 worth of almonds, and a 50 cent stick of butter. I think the keys are: 1) roasting the almonds, and 2) getting them crushed to a paste (although a little chunkiness wouldn't be a bda thing). Getting the paste thinned properly is just a matter of adjusting the amount of oil and/or butter in the recipe.