Vanilla Cinnamon Almond Butter Recipe • gluten/grain/dairy/sugar free, low carb, Paleo
I’ve been wanting to share this recipe here for a while now.
When I was first leaning what healthy foods were and which foods my body tolerated best, I also cut out all sweets from my diet. I was trying to reduce the inflammation in my body and I didn’t really know how to read labels and the difference between sweeteners. So I felt it was best to not eat anything packaged or any products that had any kind of sugar added.
This was a hard period for me and it took a very long time to adjust. In fact, I think it took me about 2 to 3 years before I began eating certain foods, sweeteners and even some fruits again.
My go to snacks back then were mostly low sugar fruits like berries. Then I started eating green apples which I have always loved, and then came the nuts. I began experimenting with making different snacks with nuts and fruits and this recipe for Vanilla Cinnamon Almond Butter was born.
If you eat a healthy diet, low in carbs you know that apples topped almond butter is THE perfect snack. Organic apples are high in antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber. Almonds contain healthy monounsaturated fats, and are a rich source of protein, manganese, potassium, copper and vitamin E. Together with wholesome spices such as cinnamon and vanilla, this healthy snack also tastes delicious! Cinnamon has been shown to help regulate blood sugar levels, and vanilla has anti-infammatory properties amongst other benefits.
For this recipe I am particular about using ground vanilla. I think it enhances the flavor and texture of the almond butter. My favorite brand is by Bakto. Their ground vanilla is not cheap, but it lasts a long time and the flavor is unique and amazing. I’m not affiliated with them, I just simply like their products and I like recommending products I like to you 🙂
If you prefer to use vanilla extract, which is more readily available you can. Your almond butter will still taste delicious. If you use vanilla extract, I suggest you mix it into the almond butter with a spoon and not your processor or blender. Using the processor may give your creamy almond butter a thicker consistency. You can substitute 2 to 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract for the ground vanilla in this recipe.
This recipe takes literally about 5 minutes to make! I know you’ll enjoy it and it will be part of your healthy snack choices for years to come as it has been for me 🙂
You guys are so creative and I would love to see your creations. When you make this recipe, please snap a photo and post it here in the comments for me to see. Or share your picture on the social media networks and tag @livinghealthywithchocolate so I can find your post. Enjoy 🙂
- 2 teaspoons ground vanilla
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ cups almonds
- ½ cup pecans
- pinch of salt
- Add the almonds and pecans to your food processor or high speed blender. Process until smooth and creamy like peanut butter. This may take about 5 minutes depending on your machine.
- Add the vanilla, cinnamon and salt, and pulse to combine ingredients. Store almond butter in a glass jar or airtight container.
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Hi Adriana, as always I love your recipes. I’m wondering if you soak your nuts and dry/dehydrate them. I used to soak, but the whole process is so time consuming, that I want to know your opinion?
Hi Marli, I agree with you and sometimes I soak my nuts to sprout them and make them easier to digest. I try buying sprouted nuts as much as I can so I don’t have to do this. Personally, I don’t have a problem digesting any kind of nut so I don’t worry about it too much.
How many servings is this? And how much is considered a serving?
I’m not sure Lili. This depends on how you eat it. The whole recipe makes 1 1/2 cups. There are about 24 tablespoons in 1 1/2 cups.
What size jar does one batch make?
Olga, this recipe makes 1 1/2 cups.
Thank you, Adriana, & for all your wonderful recipes. Just finished making tapioca pudding. Soaked tapioca in homemade cashew milk overnight. Next day added egg, can of coconut milk, 2T maple flavored Lakanto, salt, cinnamon, & sprinkle of nutmeg. Delicious hot or cold, topped with raspberries our blueberries.
Sounds amazing Olga! I must try it!!
Hello Adriana, thank you for all the delicious recipes! Can you tell us what brand/model of food processor you are using to make this creamy looking almond butter in 5 min?! I tried with my Vitamix and it was long and arduous… not fun and the results far from that yummy picture!
Thank you!
Hi Genevieve, I’ve made this and other nut butters in my vitamix several times. I find that if you add more nuts (more than 2 cups) the blender does a good and faster job turning the nuts into butter. The less you add to the blender, the longer and more difficult it will be to process. This is also true to the food processor, but how powerful your processor is also matters. I use a Magimix 4200 XL.
Does the brand for ground vanilla matter? Or I can buy the one from iherb website?
Also.. is there another replacement for vanilla if some people do not like vanilla?
Thanks 🙂
Hi Josephine, the brand of ground vanilla doesn’t matter. You can use any brand and you can also use the seeds from a vanilla bean or vanilla extract. Vanilla extract does not taste as strong so double the amount you add if you decide to use it. The vanilla is added for flavor and you can omit it in this recipe.
Adriana,
In the video you put all ingridients at the same time in the food processor, but at the post here, it says to add the cinammon, vanila and salt just when the nuts are already processed. Which way is better?
Abraços,
Ágata
Hi Agata, for this recipe in particular the order doesn’t matter. Le the know how it goes if you try it.
I made almond butter a few times and stored it in the fridge but after a day or two it got really thick. Do you think it is because I didn’t blend it enough or I should leave it out of the fridge?
Hi Katy, sounds like you need to blend it more. I blend it until it’s in liquid form.
This took me 3 hours in my food processor to get it creamy, but its yummy
3 hours😳? Wow Maryse. Maybe you need a more powerful processor, it’s worth the investment. A blender like the Vitamix also works very well to make nut butters.
Can you use vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans?
Hi Roberta, yes you can use vanilla extract instead, but it won’t taste the same. It will still be good but I think the vanilla powder or even using the seeds of a fresh vanilla bean taste better.
Thanks . Curious about what you were diagnosed with? IBS?
I never got an official diagnose from the doctors since I stop going to them. But a lot of my symptoms point to IBS indeed.
Adriana,
What diet did you follow for the 2 to 3 years to heal your gut? GAPS?
Let me know what worked for you and what you ate. Thank you
Hi Julie, for those first few years and still today, I eat a low-carb Paleo diet. I eat green-leafy veggies, animal meats (pastured, grass-fed, wild-caught), nut, seeds, fruits, and also dairy from good sources. The difference from when I began was that I didn’t eat any sweet foods, except for some low-carb fruits such as berries and apples. Today I find that eating small amounts of raw honey doesn’t affect my health. It is also a real food, full of nutrients as well. So since I love baking, I began mixing these foods together and I’ve created the recipes you see today here on my blog and book. For me in particular, eliminating grains, vegetable oils, gluten, and reducing my carb count for the day were key to healing.
mine does not come out creamy, why? It tastes good though
Hi Roberta, maybe your processor is not as powerful and it takes a little longer to achieve that consistency.
I processed mine well over 5 minutes and it never got runny but I don’t really care cause it’s awesome!! Didn’t have ground vanilla so I scraped vanilla beans and added a touch of extract – and to top it all off threw in a dash of maple syrup – YUMMMMM
Hi Dottie, the time it takes to have the almond butter get “runny” varies because every food processor is so different. You can’t over process the almonds, so if you want, next time let it process for longer, until you achieve the desired consistency. Thank you again for your feedback! I’m so happy you are enjoying my recipes 🙂
This is delicious! just wondering how you got yours to be so runny? Mine came out a lot thicker, like a paste but it was still delicious! Would it make a difference if the almonds are raw or roasted? Thanks!
Grace, process your almonds longer. I usually process mine until it looks almost like liquid. The time to do this is different because every processor is different. Raw or roasted almonds will not change the consistency.
Absolutely delicious!!!! Thank you 🙂
This looks fantastic! I look forward to trying it.
I love ground vanilla beans too. I use them in all sorts of recipes where you would normally use vanilla extract. I wrote a little bit more about them here: http://everydaymindfulliving.com/ground-vanilla-beans/
When you say ground vanilla, do you mean just 2 teaspoons scraping the tiny seeds from the vanilla pods?
Angela, you can use the seeds from a vanilla pod and that would be really good. If you go that route the seeds from 1 vanilla bean should be enough for this recipe, but you can add more to taste. I used this ground vanilla which tastes delicious:
Looks so tasty! I LOVE almond butter. I usually make smoothies with almond butter, cinnamon and vanilla, so this is right up my alley.
Do you store it in the fridge or at room temperature? And how long does it last? Or: what was the longest time it lasted before you ate all of it? 😀
Julia, you can store the almond butter either at room temperature or in the fridge. I am not sure how long it lasts at room temperature because it goes fast here at my house, but in the fridge I think it will last for months.