frugal

Xmas Present #2 – Cinnamon Almond Butter

I’ve been busy again this week, creating home made gifts. This is one of my faves, so if you get one of these, you know that you’re dearly loved by me. Its soooo easy, a thrifty christmas present, and nutritious and delicious. I usually do a regular version just sweetened with honey, but this is a bit special for Christmas. Delicious on toast with slices of apple. That’s my personal favourite way to eat it.  Here’s how you do it!

Cinnamon Almond Butter

Almonds. It doesn’t really matter how many you do, I did about 1.2kg and got 6 x 250ml jars.
Coconut Oil
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Pinch of salt

If you like a nice toasty roasty flavour, then put your almonds on a tray, lather them in coconut oil, a bit of the cinnamon and sugar and toast them in the oven for about 15mins. Set aside to cool.

 

Then, put them in the food processor and blitz! Well, add brown sugar and cinnamon to your taste, and turn the machine on. Depending on how good your machine is, it may take 15 mins or an hour. You’ll need to scrape down the sides pretty regularly, and just keep going until all the oils come out and its nice and thick and goopy.

Put it in a nice airtight jar, put a label or a tag on it and you’ve got a healthy eating christmas gift!

 

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Xmas Present No.1 – Tangy Blueberry Vanilla Jam

This is a great thrifty present idea, delightful, delicious, and much easier than you think. It’s a bit more effort than a voucher but people love home made gifts.

TANGY BLUEBERRY VANILLA JAM

10 cups frozen blueberries (I get them from Aldi, they’re great and cheap)

1 cup sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Pinch of salt

Vanilla essence

Put everything in a pot, mash the blueberries up a bit with a potato masher, and cook for about 35 minutes, or until thick.

Here’s a trick to tell if the jam will set:

Put a plate in the freezer, drop some jam on it, put it back in the freezer for 1 minute, and if it forms a skin it should set fine!

This recipe yields about this much: