I’ve been seeing jars of chocolate almond butter available on grocery store shelves for several years now, but I’ve never been able to justify spending $10+ dollars to try one– especially when I’d probably devour most of it in one sitting. I’ve never had much willpower around chocolate.
This homemade chocolate almond butter was actually the result of one of my recent chocolate cravings. I had just finished making a batch of homemade almond butter (because I won’t spend $17 on a jar of organic almond butter at the store, either), and I decided to try out a chocolate version. I didn’t want to risk ruining my whole batch of almond butter if my experiment went poorly, so I started with just 1/2 cup and added small amounts of cocoa and sweetener as I went. I figured with this method, I couldn’t go wrong!
And I was right. Since you can taste this mixture as you go, you’ll always wind up with the exact chocolate flavor you’re looking for. The only downside to making your own chocolate almond butter, rather than buying the store-bought variety, is that the shelf-life will be a lot shorter. (After all, you’re not adding hydrogenated oils or preservatives.) I had to add a couple tablespoons of water to this batch, to make the consistency more spreadable, and added moisture means that it will spoil much quicker– probably in a week or two, when kept in the fridge. So, don’t make your batch too large, unless you plan on going through it quickly!
As always, this recipe is highly adaptable, too. You can use any nut or seed butter you like, by simply adding the ingredients and tasting as you go. Enjoy!
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Chocolate Almond Butter (Vegan)
Makes a little over 1/2 cup
Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond butter, or other nut or seed butter of choice
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons water, or as needed to make the mixture spreadable
Directions:
In a medium bowl combine the almond butter, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. It will probably become difficult to stir, so add the water one tablespoon at a time, as needed, to make the mixture smooth and spreadable. Feel free to add any more cocoa, sweetener, or water to make the mixture exactly how you like it.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, and enjoy it with your favorite fresh fruit, crackers, or simply by the spoonful!
Homemade Chocolate Almond Butter (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond butter , or other nut or seed butter of choice
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons water , or as needed to make the mixture spreadable
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine the almond butter, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. It will probably become difficult to stir, so add the water one tablespoon at a time, as needed, to make the mixture smooth and spreadable. Feel free to add any more cocoa, sweetener, or water to make the mixture exactly how you like it.
- Store the chocolate almond butter spread in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks, and enjoy it with your favorite fresh fruit, crackers, or simply by the spoonful!
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 79, Fat: 5g, Carbohydrates: 5g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 2g
Notes:
As I mentioned above, this recipe is very adaptable. Feel free to use carob or raw cacao powder, maple syrup, coconut nectar, honey, or stevia– adding each ingredient a little bit at a time, tasting as you go. You’ll simply need to adjust the amount of water or almond milk used to make it spreadable, depending on which ingredients you use.
And please leave a comment below, letting us know what has worked for you!
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Reader Feedback: Have you ever tried a store-bought chocolate almond butter? Any other flavored nut butters we should try to make at home next?
Thank you so much for posting this! I was just looking at a very similar product to this at Wegmans (a really classy grocery store if you have them!) but it was over $12 !!! And you are right, I couldn’t do it, almost got it in my cart but changed my mind and bought Mung beans instead…..and those were still $6. Food is just so expensive, you just have to learn how to make products like this yourself or you’ll go broke!
And I keep thinking I’ll get rid of my chocolate cravings, but never do. I swore off chocolate for a year and really ate none. Then Easter hit, and I literally ate 10 pounds of chocolate bunnies straight and of course gained 10 pounds. Bad and worse. And the Spanx Ads that keep coming up on your site must know of my chocolate addiction. I love the idea of satisfying cravings without all the extra calories.
Ha! I always laugh at the ads that follow me around on my own website, too. 🙂
So simple but so good!
Hi Megan!
Question- would adding store-bought almond milk in place of the water help extend the shelf life? I know it would probably make it more nutella-like with milk, but out of curiosity, I wonder if that would help thin it out but also not allow it to spoil as fast? Thanks!
Using almond milk would work just fine, but I don’t think it would extend the shelf life by much, since I think it’s usually supposed to be used within 10 days after opening, too.
NO WAY this will last 1 week. Everyone LOVES it at my house:) Thanks so much!
So if I wanted to really start from scratch and make my own almond butter (which I found you already posted directions) how many cups of raw whole almonds would I start with? I have bags of them in the freezer and need to do something with them! I thought I would just start in the food processor and continue to the final product. Thoughts?
I think 3 cups = 16 ounces, and that’s usually what I use.
Would it be possible to make this with xylitol instead of maple syrup. I’m using a high speed blender to make nut butters.
This looks delicious! Will be trying soon. 🙂
I LOVE nut butters, and the combination of nut butter+chocolate is irresistible. I confess that I have spent lots on money on exotic-sounding/different brands of nut butters (including chocolate almond), but I an trying to make my own more (instead of buying the natural organic ones or using the but butter grinders at stores) to save some money. Can you try doing a home-made version of Jem’s Raw Organic nut butters (http://jemraw.com/) (especially Coconut Cardamom, Cinnamon Red Maca, and Superberry Maqui Camu)? They are amazing, but I go through a lot of jars ($$).
This won’t last long in our house either! I am the same can’t bear to spend tons of money of almond butter so homemade it is! I have tried this with hazelnuts too which was also super delicious.
My mouth is watering!! I really want to try this . . . I made Nutella on the weekend and coconut butter last night, so this may be the next project for this weekend. Thanks for the inspiration:)
Can I use stevia instead of maple syrup?
In this case, stevia would probably be just fine.
*swoon*
I just made this up, and I had to hide it from the kids. I intend to send this for school lunch on Monday…and if they find out about it, it will be gone before then!…actually…it might not make it anyway…maybe I better go make some more…
I have never bought the store brand equivalent to Choclate spread.
This looks so yummy! I think my kids will die if I make it.
Thank you so much for this, I feel like my kids miss out a lot on being able to eat sweet treats.
I know that sounds crazy, but my old son always asks why he can’t have things and I do feel bad at times.
That was SO quick and easy I literally had it made in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, it’s so incredibly good It’ll be gone in my household within the week!! Thanks very much for the recipe.
Here in Oz – most kids can’t take anything NUT to school (or any other gatherings with kids) – so I made a version of this using chickpeas!
Megan,
I substituted flax seed oil, ( could also use grape seed oil) for the water and had great results, hope that will add to the refrigerated shelf life. Thanks for the great recipes!
Thans! So glad I found you and your recipes. This is only the second one I have made but I looooove it!! Can’t wait to try more.
You can freeze it, you know? Honestly! At the very worst, you will have to stir it real good once defrosted.
Replacing my Nutella for this recipe. Wow!
I made the almond butter following your instructions and it turned out wonderful! Now I can never go back to store bought. I tried this and just started with 1 tablespoon of water (also I used 2 tablespoons honey and 1.5 tablespoons of cocoa powder) and I thought it was good. My boyfriend tried it and thought it tasted gummy so I thought maybe i’ll try adding some more water. Just added about 1 teaspoon more and it turned out really gummy! Such a strange texture. Any idea why?? I’m about to try adding it back into food processor and hope that helps!
Update: don’t add back into food processor if this happens to you! It makes it much worse! It turned super thick and all the water (or maybe it was the oil?) was being pushed out. I’m wondering if using oil is better (though I do feel that I don’t want to add some other kind of oil) because the oil and water wont have a reaction. Seriously it’s so weird what is occuring
could i use raw honey instead of maple syrup?
Which kind of cocoa do I use? Dutch-process or natural? Should it be organic? One of the comments shared how the mixture became ‘gummy’. I wonder if melting baker’s chocolate would work better for mixing.
For no-bake recipes, I always use raw cacao to get the most nutritional benefits. I’m not sure how baker’s chocolate would affect things– I think that would make it harden and solidify in the fridge, thanks to the extra fat solids.
Just found this recipe. It is one of the best Paleo snacks EVER! I have eaten it with a green apple everyday! So easy and ridiculous! Thank you!!!!
Love your recipes!!! A fast question, what happend if i use coconut oil instead of the water or almond milk?
I made this with Marcona almonds and Ghirardelli cocoa powder. Delicious!
Excelent recipe, I just add a litli bit more of water, thanks you very much.
IT IS DIVINE! I have used organic honey instead of maple syrup it turned out amazing. Thank you.
So I thought I’d be all smart and mix the ingredients in my food processor. It’ll be smoother that way, right? Nope. Don’t do that. It will overheat and get all gummy and the oils will separate out. Granted, I was also working with freshly made sunflower seed butter which I was not smart enough to let cool down first. Just a few warnings for anybody who was thinking of improvising.
Wondering if anyone had the same issue I did….add the water and the oil from the almond butter split and I ended up with a raw brownie texture. 🙁
I want to make orange flavored chocolate almond butter.
I loved this chocolate almond butter recipe! I gave it as sifts for Christmas. Everyone loved it!
To make it orange, would I just make this recipe and then add some orange juice in place of the water and some orange zest? Any other suggestions?
I roasted almonds and cashews and while they where still slightly warm, made nut butter in my high speed blender. Once that was runny I added the cocoa, maple syrup and home made almond milk. I had to keep adding more almond milk until it got smooth and spreadable. Great recipe. I hope the homemade almond milk will not reduce the life of the product. Not sure if it will last very long anyway its soooo delicious.
I used 3 cups nuts. 130g maple syrup, 6 tablespoons cocoa and not sure about how much milk but more than 10 tablespoons.
This is the best recipe I’ve ever found online. I’m a student and too broke to support my chocolate almond butter addiction and that’s what led me here. I used this recipe to combine my 3 favourite things into one food! Since i love dark chocolate, i melted a little bit of my favourite dark chocolate with just a teeny tiny bit of almond milk and added it at the last. I also swapped maple syrup for this sugar free hazelnut syrup i had. And honestly, it turned out to be the most heavenly spread I’ve ever had! 🙂
I made this, but used coconut oil instead of water. Hopefully it will keep more than 2 weeks in the fridge.
I didn’t have any Almond Butter, so I made this with SunButter. It turned out really nicely. Unfortunately spoiling by having it sit in the fridge was not an issue… I found myself ….tasting…a little too much of it.
I’m in the middle of Veganuary and have been doing well, but became so close to going at the Nutella jar with a spoon last night. This recipe saved me! Thanks for it. I’ll be making it regularly.
Instead of water,add olive oil for spreadability.
This recipe did not work for me at all. The oil completely separate once I added water and it it chunky and unedible… What happened? I wish I could add a picture because it looks discussing