Almond Butter and My Favorite Kitchen Appliance

I have decided that the food processor is the best kitchen invention ever. Okay, so maybe major appliances like the refrigerator and dishwasher are slightly more significant, but the food processor is a close second. This is the one I own.

You can buy it here on Amazon for $99.95. There are amazing deals on them all the time around Christmas too. Seriously, if you don't own one, find a way to get one. It chops my chicken and veggies for casseroles and soups. It assists me in making a variety of baked goods. And today, it helped me make almond butter. Yep, I made my own almond butter. You can call me Suzy Homemaker.

Okay, so here's a confession: I don't like making special trips to the "health food store" for ingredients. It's a pain. But each time I tried to buy a jar of almond butter at one of my local grocers, I took issue with the ingredient list. Every jar I looked at had added sugar and oil. And I really didn't want that in my almond butter. I mean, if I am going to pay an arm and a leg for a natural nut butter, it should just be the nuts. Maybe a little salt. But mostly just the nuts.

So I bought 2 small containers of whole almonds. Each one was 6 oz. for a total of 12 oz. Yes, I'm a math wizard too!

I emptied both containers into my food processor.

Then I turned it on and let it process while I unloaded the rest of the groceries. After 1 minute, it looked like this.

I let it go for about 4 more minutes before I checked again. This time it had started to clump together, but it still didn't resemble any sort of nut butter.

I let it process for 5 more minutes. Voila! Almond butter!

I added a dash of salt, processed it for a few more seconds and stored it in a small tupperware container. You could also add a little honey, vanilla or coconut oil to suit your taste.

I love it! The natural sweetness of the almonds gives it a great flavor. I can't wait to try it in some new recipes soon.

Question of the Day

Do you like almond butter?

Try Something New Tuesday: Zucchini Brownies

After last week's epic fail, I wanted to make sure this week's Try Something New Tuesday was a success. So I went with what I do best: chocolate.

I had recently been eyeing this recipe for Zucchini brownies. Ever since I learned how to shred veggies with my food processor, I had been looking for the chance to do it again. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

First, I recruited two helpers.

We put the littles down for naps, and then we got busy.

Here's the ensemble.

We started things off with my favorite new past time: zucchini shredding! The girls were as impressed as I was. 

After shredding the zucchini, I decided to give it a couple of extra pulses in the food processor to make the zucchini more discreet.

Next, we combined the oil, applesauce (I like to substitute half the oil in recipes with unsweetened applesauce), 2 tsp. vanilla and sugar.

We stirred that until it was well blended.

Next we added the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. 

We stirred that until it was well combined. The batter was relatively dry at this point which I had read in the recipe's reviews was normal. A lot of your moisture comes from the zucchini.

Finally, we added the zucchini.

The batter became much more moist once this was stirred in. We spread the batter evenly in a greased 9x13" pan.

We baked these at 350 degrees for about 24 minutes. I had read in the reviews that it was important not to overbake, so I decided it would be better if they were a little undercooked. 

Next came the hard part: we had to let them sit and cool. And just stare at them. Without eating any. I even stuck them in the freezer for awhile to try and speed this process up. When they were sufficiently cooled, we got to work on the icing. We considered making our staple Best Ever Brownie Icing recipe, but we decided to get a little crazy and use the one that came with the recipe. 

First, we melted the butter and cocoa in a medium bowl and stirred until smooth. Then, we let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Next, we added the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup extra powdered sugar because the icing seemed a little thin to me. Maybe I didn't let the butter/cocoa combination cool long enough? At any rate, the extra sugar certainly didn't hurt!

We spread the icing over the brownies before cutting.

Oh. My. These brownies did not disappoint! I'll let the photos do the talking.

The kids and I ate well over half the pan the day we made them!!! Hey, they have zucchini in them so that makes them healthy, right?!? Seriously, the little ones didn't even notice that the zucchini was there. If your child is particularly sensitive to new textures, you could puree the zucchini instead of shredding it.

I will point out that these brownies are more cake-like than fudgy, but we loved them all the same. This is definitely a recipe we plan to make again. I didn't bother calculating the nutrition on these because, quite frankly, I didn't want to know!

Zucchini Brownies

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1-1/2 cups white sugar (I used a little less; I think you could easily get by with 1 cup)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all-purpose)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini (I found that 2 medium zucchinis was about right)

Icing

• 6 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

~Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking dish. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla until well blended. Add the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir until well combined. Mixture will be fairly dry. Fold in the zucchini. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes being careful not to overbake. Let the brownies cool. To prepare the icing, melt together the 6 tbsp. cocoa and butter in a medium bowl. Set aside to cool. Add the powdered sugar, milk and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Stir well to combine. Spread over cooled brownies.

Question of the Day:

Do you like to hide veggies in food?