My roasted almond and hazelnut butter is super easy-to-make, and is delicious on toasted rye-bread, or on a whole-food cracker such as those made by Rude Health, or spread into the U of a celery stick to make an excellent protein snack.
Almonds and hazelnuts provide a rich source of vitamin E which is an antioxidant. Almonds provide a good source of calcium, magnesium and zinc whilst hazelnuts contain a good amount of copper and vitamin B6. These nuts contain good fats so whilst this nut butter is high in calories, it is very satisfying and can diminish appetite and so be helpful in weight loss.
 

ingredients for roasted almond and hazelnut butter

Portion size: Fills 1 standard jam-jar.
Food processor required.

• 200g sweet almonds*
• 200g hazelnuts
• 2 good pinches of good quality sea or rock salt (I like Cornish smoked sea-salt)

* Sweet almonds are slightly different from regular almonds—sweeter as the name implies. Morrisons stock them as do many health food shops. If you only have regular almonds—these too will work.

Method

Heat your oven to 200°C / 180°C for fan-assisted / gas mark 6.
Thoroughly wash and rinse your jam-jar.
Pour the nuts onto a large baking tray. Spread them out. When the oven is up to temperature, place the tray inside. Also put the glass jam-jar into the oven (without the lid) to sterilise it. Allow the nuts to roast for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven. Shake the tray or use a spatular to turn the nuts over – don’t worry that some won’t be turned. Place back into the oven and roast for a further 5 minutes. Remove the jam jar and put to one side. Remove the roasted nuts. Some of the hazel nut skins will have become loose – pick off any of the skins that have become detached from the nuts. Then pour the nuts into your food processor. Add the 2 pinches of salt.
It will take between 15-25 minutes for your food processor to make the butter. The amount of time depends on the harvest/age of the nuts and the power of your blender. Slowly, nuts change into a coarse flour and eventually this becomes a butter. Every now and again, you may need to stop the food processor to push the mixture down towards the blades. See the photos below and notice when it’s done, the butter is no longer lumpy. This final change happens in the last few minutes. When it’s done, simply fill your jam-jar and keep in the fridge. I’m sure it could last a long time – but my guests at The Jasmine House and I like it so much, the jar is often empty by the end of a fortnight!
Eat Well—Be Well 🙂