Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter

Vanilla espresso almond butter is so easy to make at home - and cheaper, too! This three-ingredient recipe includes vanilla extract and whole espresso beans for a unique, flavor-packed spread. It's perfect for slathering on toast, pancakes, and waffles, as a dip for pretzels and fruit, and more.

Breakfast! It's one of my favorite meals and a source of frustration all at once. I go through mega phases with breakfast. Either I eat the same thing every day for months, or I'm staring into the fridge and/or cabinets each morning wondering what combination of breakfast-friendly foods I feel like that day.

Healthy baked oatmeal bars have definitely gotten me to settle down with my breakfast jumping, but I'm always on the lookout for ways to shake it up.

One long-standing supermarket indulgence of mine has been treating myself to a new and exciting flavor of nut butter. Every time I shop there seems to be a new brand or flavor available, and my latest find was a lovely vanilla bean and espresso blend.

I bought it, I loved it, I devoured it...but it was a little pricey for the volume of almond butter I eat each week. I'm talking having it on toast for breakfast, and then bringing the jar with me to work so I could have it again as an afternoon snack.

Obviously a homemade version was on my mind.

Just three ingredients

This vanilla espresso almond butter is a breeze to whip up and adds an extra special flavor dimension to a staple. All you need is a food processor and three ingredients:

• roasted and salted almonds
• whole espresso beans
• vanilla extract

My preference when making homemade almond butters is to use roasted almonds. They bring a deeper flavor than using raw nuts, and the salted nature of them pairs well with the "sweeter" ingredients, like the vanilla extract here.

If you only have raw almonds, you can roast them and just add in a pinch of salt when you're blending it up.

To dry roast almonds, add them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet or dish. Roast in a 350°F oven for 8-12 minutes, keeping a close eye (well, nose) for when they become fragrant. Remove them right when they've become golden-y brown, then immediately transfer them to a plate to cool. They risk burning if you keep them on the hot pan.

While I love adding instant espresso powder to chocolate desserts, whole espresso beans is what I use here. Reason being that I love the larger espresso flecks they provide in this vanilla espresso almond butter. Instant espresso powder is very fine and would blend too much into the almond butter mixture.

Five minutes of prep time

The recipe steps here can be described as follows: add everything to the bowl of a food processor and blend until mostly smooth. Enjoy!

Stop and scrape down the sides of the food processor as needed to make sure all of the ingredients get broken down. If you're using at-home dry roasted almonds, you may wish to add a pinch of salt along with the other three ingredients to provide that sweet + salty counterbalance.

If you've never made homemade nut butter, it may not look like it's working at the beginning of the processing. The almonds will first break down into small pieces, and then into even finer pieces that resemble a sandy consistency. Keep it going, as soon the natural oils from the almonds will release and the mixture will become creamy, as we've come to expect.

Serving suggestions

I've been eating a tablespoon or two of this vanilla espresso almond butter along with multi-grain crackers as a mid-afternoon snack, and I'm happy to report it holds me over until dinner, which is a rarity for me.

Otherwise, this is such a great spread for morning toast (hello, little burst of espresso flavor), for dipping fresh fruit or dates, or for simply eating a spoonful topped with mini chocolate chips for dessert. While I wouldn't recommend making this if you don't like the flavor of coffee, the vanilla and espresso flavor pairing is surprisingly versatile with all the foods it goes with.

For a slightly different but related flavor direction, you may also like espresso cinnamon almond butter. It has all the flavors of a Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce Latte, but in almond butter form!

Recipe notes

• See body of the post above for how to dry roast almonds for this recipe if all you have are raw almonds.
• Whole bean espresso is my pick here over my usual instant espresso powder as larger, chunky espresso flecks works better than super fine powder.

Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter

Vanilla espresso almond butter is so easy to make at home - and cheaper, too! This three-ingredient recipe includes vanilla extract and whole espresso beans for a unique, flavor-packed spread. It's perfect for slathering on toast, pancakes, and waffles, as a dip for pretzels and fruit, and more.

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Course: Dips and Spreads

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 155kcal

Author: Alyssa

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ cups roasted salted almonds (or your preferred variety)
• ▢ 1-2 tablespoon whole espresso beans, or to taste
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

• Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and process for 2-3 minutes, occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Mixture will become very finely chopped, to sandy, and then will begin to resemble a creamy almond butter as the oil from the almonds releases. Continue processing until almond butter is a smooth, spreadable consistency.

Notes

Espresso flavor: I suggest starting with one tablespoon of espresso beans, processing, and then taste testing. Add additional beans if you'd like a stronger espresso flavor.

Almonds: Roasted and salted, lightly salted/low-sodium, and dry roasted almonds all work here.

This recipe yields approximately 8 oz of almond butter.

Nutrition

Serving: 1oz | Calories: 155kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 5.7g | Fat: 13.7g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Sodium: 88mg | Potassium: 193mg | Fiber: 3.1g | Sugar: 1.3g | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 1.3mg

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Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

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