Creamy Almond Butter

I think I've finally perfected my almond butter. To suit my tastes at least. I know, it's weird that I have tastes about almonds, I've never really liked nuts. But lucky for me, the reason I never really liked nuts was definitely texture (except for walnuts, which have a taste I don't particularly like) and by making nut butters or using finely ground nut flours that pretty much takes care of lindsay-un-friendly texture issues. So, here is my recipe for creamy almond butter that tastes a lot like peanut butter. It does have a somewhat dry after taste, which can be fixed by adding a little olive oil, but I prefer to leave it plain since I mostly cook with it and some times the oil can separate when mixing with other things.

1. Buy 1 lb whole shelled, un-skinned almonds (I get them for $4.50-$5.50 lb at Whole Foods).
2. Start boiling a large pot of water. Enough liquid to cover all the almonds.
   
3. In a large bowl, place about 1.5 cups of ice in cool water. Enough liquid to cover all the almonds.
   
4. Put a colander in the sink and get ready to be quick about things.
5. When the water in the pot starts boiling, pour your 1 lb un-skinned almonds in the pot. Let boil for 45 seconds.
6. Drain hot water from almonds in the colander and immediately put almonds in cold water bowl.
7. Stir briefly. And drain in colander again.
8. Pat almonds dry with a towel. You should notice the skins will be quite lose now.
9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
10. Slip skins off the almonds. Careful, sometimes they really fly! Pat dry with towel again.
11. Bake skinned almonds at 350 for 15 minutes. This roasting process is what really makes them taste like peanuts after griding. Towards the end, they start to make popping noises like pop corn.
    
12. Pull almonds from the oven and immediately place into blender or food processor.
13. Blend until creamy!! Should take 10 to 15 minutes. In most cases you will need to push down the side build up a lot to make sure it's blending well. And feel free to give your machine a break if it threatens to overheat. Mine does fine (7-cup Cuisinart) with no breaks.

If you want to make almond flour, bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes (instead of 15 min). This warms them up and helps dry them out but doesn't give them that roasted flavor. And don't blend until creamy, just blend until you get a very fine almond powder. This is almond flour.