Homemade Cinnamon Nut Butter

I'm not quite sure where to start this post... I could start by telling you about the inordinate quantities of nuts that I have been consuming over the last month. Or I could start with telling you about the little jar of gourmet Saigon Vietnamese Cinnamon that is lurking in my cupboard and which I occasionally take out, sniff and then loose myself in a cinnamon roll daydream. Or I could just dive right in and tell you that tonight my recent snack and sanity saver called "nuts" met up with a few teaspoons of my fancy cinnamon in the food processor and something beautiful was born!

As a part of my treatment for the yucky intestinal infection I am dealing with right now, I have to avoid all forms of sugar including fruit and most carbs along with the usual gluten and dairy. Just this week, eggs got temporarily cut as well. What does that leave me to eat, you ask? Meat, most veggies, beans, brown rice or quinoa and NUTS! I am probably eating more nuts than is nutritionally recommended for most people. But they are my only quick option when I need a snack or something fast. I have also discovered that I get somewhat passionate about the Mauna Loa Dry-Roasted Macadamia nuts and in this season where treats are so scarce, I am more than happy to pay $13.99 for a jar of them at Costco.

As a concession, to try and make these few months more doable, my doctor agreed to let me have one apple or one pear per day. Tonight I decided to try and make some homemade nut butter to go with my daily apple. Peanuts and my tummy are not on speaking terms at the moment, but I had a bag of Tamari-roasted almonds, raw macadamia nuts and dry-roasted cashews. I have never heard of a nut butter using multiple kinds of nuts, but I thought I'd give it a try and put them all in my food processor for a few minutes until a paste formed. I also decided to try adding in some cinnamon to the final product and it is DELICIOUS! The awesome thing is that we usually associate cinnamon with sweet things (at least in American cooking) and so adding the cinnamon makes my nut butter feel a little like dessert. And feeling like I can eat a little dessert right now makes me very happy!

So if you have some nuts in your cupboard and a food processor, try dumping them in with a little cinnamon or even a savory flavor like cumin or chipotle powder and enjoy!