Amlou-Style Almond and Date Butter
Amlou is the almond spread of southwestern Morocco, traditionally almonds ground with argan oil and honey and eaten at breakfast with bread. This version keeps the whole toasted almonds, which carry all the fat the spread needs on their own, and swaps the honey for blended dates so the sweetness comes with fiber. A spoon of sesame nods to the tahini side of North African cooking, and cinnamon warms it. It is a whole-food fat, rich and concentrated, so treat it as an accent on fruit, oatcakes, or porridge rather than something to eat by the spoonful.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Almonds, toasted
- 4 wholes Medjool dates, pitted
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/4 tsp cassia cinnamon, ground
- 3 tbsp Unsweetened soy milk
Method
- Toast the almonds in a dry pan over medium heat until they smell nutty and darken a shade, about 6 minutes, then let them cool. Toasting matters twice over: it deepens the flavor and it warms the natural oil in the nut, which is what lets the almonds grind into a spread later with nothing added.
- Grind the warm almonds in a food processor, stopping to scrape down the sides every minute or so, until they pass from meal to paste to a loose butter, 10 to 15 minutes. This is the whole trick of amlou: patience, not oil. The almonds release their own fat as the blade works, so keep going past the point where it looks like sand.
- Add the sesame seeds and run the machine another minute. Traditional amlou is almond alone, but a spoon of toasted sesame borrows a little of tahini's savory depth and rounds the spread out.
- Blend the dates with the soy milk into a smooth paste, then add it to the processor with the cinnamon and pulse until combined. The dates replace the honey that binds a classic amlou, bringing the same clinging sweetness but with fiber still attached, and the soy milk loosens the spread to a scoopable texture.
- Scrape into a jar. It firms as it sits in the fridge, so warm a spoonful at room temperature before spreading it on oatcakes or fruit. Keep it to a couple of tablespoons at a time, since ground almonds are calorie dense and meant here as an accent, not a base.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 150 calories, 5 g protein, 3 g fiber, 3 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
