Some things are worth cooking from scratch, at home, on a regular basis. Some things are not. There are broadly three metrics, I think, for measuring which category a given foodstuff falls into. The first is whether making something from scratch represents a significant cost saving on the ready-made version. The second is how difficult it is to make said thing from scratch. The third — and comfortably the most important — is whether the end result is significantly more delicious than the shop-bought version. This is not always a given. Unless you are a very experienced cook, I would contend that most attempts to make fresh pasta result in a product inferior to the dried or fresh versions found in supermarkets, which are really quite good. The same might also be said for technically complex foods like filo pastry.
Fortunately, almond butter clears all three of these hurdles quite comfortably. Almonds in their whole, unprocessed form are expensive but around half the price of the butter they produce, which is quite literally made of almonds and a little bit of salt.It is also an intensely easy process, as you will see when you click through to the link below, with very few steps and very little that can go wrong. The only gesture towards fanciness here is the use of smoked sea salt, which adds a deep umami kick which complements the toasted flavours of your almonds nicely. Finally, the result of making it yourself is a quite intensely delicious product. Spread it liberally on a piece of toast, put a little on your porridge, use it in a trendy alternative to a PB&J sandwich. You will never look back.
