The sun is back out today after several weeks of cloudy skies and rainy weather so I’m taking full advantage of the new power being generated: the washing is on, the sourdough is ready to baked later in the breadmaker and I decided to make some almond butter.

Almond butter is similar to peanut butter which you can now buy in the shops in Spain, although other kinds of nut butter are hard to come by.

We’ve got a small electric burner that can be used on the solar system when the sun is shining. It’s perfect for heating or simmering foods and I normally cook beans and pulses in the pressure cooker on it. Today, I decided to make some almond butter.

I put 1 cup of almonds in a stainless steel pan. Basically, I cooked the almonds for 10 minutes on No. 5 (the highest heat), 10 minutes on No. 3 and then another 10 minutes back on No. 5, stirring at the end of each stretch. I then turned off the heat and left the almonds to cool for 30 minutes.

To make the almond butter, transfer the cooled almonds to a food processor and blend until the nut crumbs turn into a liquid paste. This normally takes about 5 minutes. When you’ve reached the desired consistency, pour the almond butter into a jam jar and keep in the fridge.