Although many stores set out their Valentine’s Day inventory the day after Christmas, I usually wait until partway through January to take a peek. Yes, even though it’s the holiday with the most chocolate and I’m a huge chocoholic! Call me old-fashioned, but I love to enjoy the magic and wonder of the Christmas season until after New Year’s before diving into the next big holiday.
Very few other customers wandered around the store during my last trip to Target, especially the Valentine’s Day aisles, so I decided to stop by and check out the displays. I headed straight for the sets of paper cards, just like the ones we used to exchange in elementary school, for old time’s sake. I looked for a package of Pooh Bear cards (always my favorite growing up!), but I only found cute Snoopy and Minion ones instead. Oh well!
Next came the shelves full of baking supplies. I spotted plenty of cupcake liners and sprinkles (lots of pink, red, and hearts!), cookie cutters and party bags, and both cake pans and muffin cups shaped like hearts. Beside the spatulas, I even found a few chocolate fondue pots and fountains. Those would be dangerous in my house!
As my final stop before heading home, I checked out the candy section. I expected the typical conversation sweethearts and red hots, but I was shocked at how many different Valentine’s-themed candy options there were! Cherry M&Ms, Dove red velvet chocolate hearts, fruit-filled Ghirardelli squares, chocolate truffle Hershey kisses, Butterfinger hearts, regular milk chocolate M&Ms in pink, white and red… And that was only the end cap display before I reached the regular Valentine’s candy aisle!
A constant stream of candy-filled thoughts filled my head as I drove home, so I decided to mix up a batch of this Almond Joy Almond Butter to get my sweet tooth fix instead! It has the same familiar flavors of the candy bar, but none of the refined sugar, artificial ingredients or guilt. Even better, it’s incredibly easy to make!
This homemade nut butter recipe begins with unsalted roasted almonds. Most stores only sell raw, all-natural almonds as their unsalted options, but that’s okay! It’s super easy to toast your own. Simply line a baking sheet with foil, spread the almonds on top in a single layer, and bake them at 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until fragrant. Then let them cool completely before making the almond butter.
Note: It’s important to use toasted (aka roasted) almonds because they give the almond butter a fuller, richer flavor. Lightly salted roasted almonds purchased from the store will work, but you may need to adjust the amount of salt in the recipe to compensate.
To provide the other iconic almond joy flavors, you’ll use cocoa powder and coconut extract. Coconut extract is sold on the baking aisle near the vanilla extract, as well as online. It’s shelf-stable and keeps for ages! I’m not the biggest coconut fan and decided to skip mixing in a few pinches of shredded coconut, but if you wanted to for a little extra coconut flavor, that would work just fine.
Finally, the almond butter is sweetened with one of my new favorite ingredients: vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly. It’s very concentrated, so a little goes a long way! This is the kind that I buy, and it’s sold in a small bottle with an eyedropper. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Once you’ve assembled your ingredients, all you need is a high-powdered food processor or blender! Ninja, Blendtec, and Vitamix are all great options. Ninja is the most affordable, and it’s the one that I currently own. I have this model, and I use those single-serving smoothie cups every single day!
So… Blend the almonds until they’re nice and creamy. You may need to occasionally stop and scrape down the sides of your food processor or blender. Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend again until the almond butter is perfectly smooth.
Because of the heat from the motor, the almond butter will be very liquidy when you finish mixing it together, so you’ll want to transfer it to a glass jar or airtight container and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours—or 8 hours, for the thickest and best texture. But then…
Grab a spoon and dig in!
| Almond Joy Almond Butter | Print |
- 2 cups (286g) roasted unsalted almonds*
- 3 tbsp (15g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- ½ tsp vanilla crème stevia, or to taste
- ¼ tsp salt
- Add the almonds to a high-powered food processor or blender, and blend the almonds until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Add the cocoa powder, coconut extract, stevia, and salt. Blend until everything is fully incorporated and smooth. Transfer to a glass jar or airtight container, and refrigerate.
If you aren’t a big coconut fan, reduce the amount of coconut extract to ¾ teaspoon. If you love coconut, feel free to increase it to 1 ¼ teaspoons or add a few pinches of shredded unsweetened coconut.
Any sweetener may be substituted for the vanilla crème stevia, although liquid sweeteners tend to incorporate the best. In the recipe, ½ teaspoon of vanilla crème stevia is the equivalent of 4 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
This is the food processor that I own. It's one of the most affordable high-powdered options on the market, and I use it every day!
{vegan, gluten-free, clean eating, sugar-free}
Great recipe. Thank you.
My pleasure Teressa! I hope you enjoy the almond butter if you try it!
This looks so good! I have never made my own nut butter before!
Thanks Shannon! It’s SO easy — and really rewarding too! 🙂
Just when I thought nut butter couldn’t get any better I found this recipe! What an incredibly tasty and unique idea! Im in love!!
Thanks Bethany! 🙂
Growing up, I was always the only person who liked Almond Joy. This almond joy almond butter looks like the perfect way to put chocolate, coconut, almond flavor with everything. Coconut extract sounds delicious.
Thanks Elaine! I didn’t like Almond Joys as a child… But they were my mom’s favorite candy, so she loved Halloween when I gave her all of the ones from my treat bag! 😉
We’re twins… I work next to a Target, so I occasionally (ok… once or twice a week at least) take to wandering around Target on my lunch break when I find myself with a few extra minutes. At my last trip, the pretty pink paper straws, heart-adorned buckets, and all things red and pink and pretty all over the dollar eye were making me swoon!!
This nut butter sounds DANGEROUS!! <3
The Target dollar aisle is where I always seem to spend most of my time — and money!! Those cute things get me EVERY time!
how do you get it so liquidy? I made it but its stil kind of a moist powder. like dirt almost. do you add anything to it?
No, I didn’t add anything to it Denise! It may be influenced by your blender or food processor. What brand did you use? If your almond butter is really dry, you can add a small amount of neutral-tasting oil (don’t use coconut oil!) to the blender or food processor until it starts to come together.
i use KitchenAid® 3.5 Cup Food Chopper- KFC3511. just out of curiosity, why cant i use coconut oil? i wouldnt consider that to be a strong tasting oil…
Thanks for the information Denise! Your food processor’s motor isn’t as strong and blades aren’t as sharp as the one I use, so that would most likely be the reason your almond butter wasn’t creamy. Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature (65°F), so it’ll definitely be a solid when you store this almond butter in the fridge. The purpose of the neutral tasting oil is to add more liquid to the almond butter to make it creamier, so using coconut oil would defeat that purpose! 🙂