Carrot Cake Nut Butter

Carrot Cake Nut Butter

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Servings: makes 16 oz

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole almonds, raw
• 2 cups walnuts, raw
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• Optional: 1 tsp of neutral oil, for runnier consistency

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
2. Spread out the walnuts on one sheet and almonds on the other.
3. Roast the nuts in the oven for about 20 minutes, rotating and switching racks a couple times throughout. The walnuts may take several minutes longer. You will want both trays deeply golden and fragrant.
4. Take out of the oven and cool for a few minutes. Optional: set aside ⅓ cup of walnuts, almonds or a combination of both for a chunky nut butter.
5. Place nuts in a high speed blender or food processor with the salt. Blend until completely smooth.
6. Add the remaining spices and blend again.
7. Finally, add the maple syrup and blend. Your nut butter may thicken/seize due to the maple syrup, so stream in 1-2 tsp of a neutral oil as the blender is on to make it more smooth again.
8. If you set aside nuts in the previous step, finely chop them and stir them into the nut butter.
9. Store in an airtight jar, and cool completely before sealing with a lid. Best eaten 1 month after making, but you can keep it in the fridge for a longer shelf life.
10. I like to stuff the carrot cake nut butter in dates with yogurt and a sprinkle of nuts, like shown in the above picture!