Every night when I go to bed I think about food combinations. I’m not joking. Pairing food combinations together eventually lull me into a beautiful sleep. In fact ever since we got our bed from Helix, I’ve been sleeping like a true angel!
But I have noticed that my dreams have become increasingly more vivid — and weird too. Check this out: The other night I had a dream that I was Miley Cyrus (yet still myself somehow) and that I turned into a blue robot on an island. I had two other friends that I didn’t know there. Suddenly a group of other blue robots came and told me I could choose to die (very gruesomely) OR that I could take two items and swim across the ocean to another island. I chose the second option and took a sand bucket and something else I can’t remember. I grabbed my friend and we made it across.
Once on the other side of the ocean and on a new island, we noticed there was a beautiful yet murky-looking pond. We decided to go swimming, but suddenly felt something touch our toes. I told everyone I thought it was a stingray. We couldn’t be certain though, so decided to drain the pond somehow. Once drained, five random creatures (a stingray, alligator, and a guy from Mortal Kombat) popped out of the water and wanted to fight. It was super dramatic.
Then I woke up and ate toast with chai-spiced hazelnut almond butter and pears. Now you know that I’m truly a weird human.
Anyway enough about my dreams and more about this hazelnut almond butter! I made it because I had a bag of hazelnuts sitting in my counter before we moved and wanted to make something with them. So, why not make an easy buttery hazelnut almond butter?
While I love hazelnuts, I find that enjoying them alone is often overpowering, especially in a nut butter (unless it’s chocolate obviously). So I added almonds too. And chai spices! I think you’ll like it because it somehow reminds me of Christmas morning or sipping on a chai tea latte on a chilly fall morning. How many days until Christmas again?
Hope you enjoy this hazelnut almond butter — one of my favorite ways to use it is in these breakfast strawberry banana quesadillas. xo!
Check out my other favorite nut butters:
Vanilla bean, honey & sea salt almond butter
10 Homemade Nut Butter Recipes You Need to Make
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Chai-Spiced Almond Hazelnut Butter
Ingredients
- 2 cups raw almonds
- 2 cups raw hazelnuts
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, plus more if necessary
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon all spice
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and add hazelnuts and almonds to a large baking sheet, spreading out to evenly distribute. Roast for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden.
- Allow nuts to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a kitchen towel. Wrap nuts in towel and use your hands to roll the nuts around so that you remove the skins of the hazelnuts (don't worry about almonds). This helps to achieve a creamier nut butter. Keeping the skins on is okay though, just know your nut butter won't be as creamy.
- Once most of the skins are off the hazelnuts, you can transfer the nuts to the food processor or high speed blender (such as a Vitamix). Process on high until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add coconut sugar & coconut oil to assist in blending. At this point the nuts should start to clump together. Continue to process until you reach the desired consistency. I like mine extra creamy!
- Once nut butter is blended, add in the spices and salt and blend for 30 seconds more. Pour into a large glass jar or container. To keep fresh, store in the fridge for up to 1 month. Not that it would last that long.
Nutrition
I’d never even thought about putting spices into nut butter, but now I feel like it’s a necessity! This looks so good, and so festive! 🙂
YES, I am not the only one who falls asleep thinking about these things. You nailed this one. It looks and sounds D-LISH!
Haha Miley Cyrus….glad you dreamt this one up though! Can’t wait to make it! 🙂
Monique, this sounds incredible. And like you said, totally delicious smeared juicy pear slices. I think it would make for lovely DIY holiday gifts, too. Can’t wait to try it!
Omg yum!!
Oh my word!!! I was just standing in the nut-butter aisle thinking about how! there need to be more flavors…And this is RIGHT up my alley. So excited to give it a go! Woohoo! Chai, hazelnuts and almonds. Three of my favorite things:)
Currently day-dreaming of this incredible nut butter! Love the mix of both hazelnuts and almonds! I agree, hazelnuts can be too overpowering on their own! Yes to Chai spice!
I love nut butters, but this recipe might take the cake. I have to try this ASAP!
I always have vivid dreams but I don’t have the luxury of remembering what they are! But I’ll dream about this hazelnut butter and hopefully remember it 😉
This sounds SO amazing. I was just thinking about making a batch of almond butter, but now I am going to make this!!
Sounds great. What quantity does this make? 14 x 2 tablespoons = ?
It should make about 1 3/4 cups!
Interested in hearing from anyone who has tried it and what their thoughts were? (The two reviews look like they’re from people who say it sounds good, but it’s a lot of money in nuts, so I’m curious!) Thanks in advance, I agree that it sounds divine.
I love spreading this butter on my toast or bagel in the morning.
Can’t wait to try this recipe!! And btw, LOVE the new website. The work you put into it shows!
Hope you love this one! And thank you SO much!!
Damn, this is freaking AWESOME! I actually used cashews instead of hazelnuts and it turned out beautifully 😍
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Can I use blanched hazelnuts instead of raw?
Yes, that should be fine!