Recipe: Cinnamon Maca Almond Butter Of Beauty
A few years ago, I was glued to a a breast pump. I made milk for my baby who never quite got the hang of boobie feeding for many reasons. One of the unintended side effects of exclusively pumping was that I was starving all the time, as any nursing mom will tell you. I couldn’t eat enough food. Hunger seemed to hit the hardest right after I would finish pumping so I ended up reaching for convenience foods. While there is nothing wrong with the convenience foods, I found that I was trading a quick calorie fix for a more complete nutritional experience.
One of the things I turned to was nuts. I get tired of trail mix and Trader Joe’s finest selection of cashews and almonds. You can only eat so many handfuls before you just get tired of chewing. Almond butter seemed to do the trick but I wasn’t a huge fan of the taste on it’s own and my favorite flavored brand was super pricy. Like $14 for a 4 oz jar pricy. And because I don’t have money to set on fire for fun, I determined to make my own version.
This particular concoction uses maca and cinnamon in addition to coconut sugar to create a warm and slightly sweet taste. Maca has also been shown to boost adrenal function and support healthy cortisol. Don’t quote me on that because I’m not WebMD and this is not medical advice. But you know by now at least that I'm a little bit woo — I just want you to function like the goddess that you are.
So, this is super easy and you can tweak this however you’d like. I enjoy less sweet, but most people enjoy more sweet. Bump up the coconut sugar in that case. I also don’ have an off switch for cinnamon, but I try to adjust my ingredients for regular people who don’t like to set their mouths on fire with this great little spice.
Ingredients:
1 jar creamy almond butter (I prefer raw, but only TJ’s sells it affordably)
1/4 cup coconut sugar, finely ground (I grind it it my nutribullet, but a coffee grinder or will do.)
3-4 Tbsp maca powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract or powder
Directions:
First of all, let me say that if you want extra points, you can grind your own almonds. This seems pointless, but okay. The extra points also don’t actually count for anything. So your choice. I choose to buy almond butter exclusively. I’m woo but I don’t like to make more work for myself.
Combine all of your dry ingredients in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly.
Next, pop open that jar of almond butter and put it in your food processor. If you don’t possess a food processor, no worries. You can use a hand mixer or just a regular old spatula. Add a few spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and stir/mix/process. Repeat until you run out of the dry ingredient mixture. Add a splash of vanilla extract and stir/mix/process again until it tastesjust the way you like it.
Store in an airtight container for up to one month. Slather it on toast, a banana, waffles, oatmeal, or just eat it straight from the jar with a spoon. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
