Peanut Butter Blondies with Homemade Almond Paste!

How much do you usually pay for almond paste? My grocery store wants me to pay them almost seven bucks for a little log! It sucks, because I love almond paste but I am not made of money. (If you must know, I am made mostly of chocolate, clementine juice, and russet potatoes.)

Last week I went on a mission to find a recipe for homemade almond paste that didn't look too laborious and that was, of course, vegan. Celine to the rescue! Celine shared a homemade almond paste recipe that looked simple, easy, and quite inexpensive. Score! Way to stick it to the grocery store!

Homemade Almond Paste
Sorry, grocery store. You will  not be robbing me blind anymore. 

This is awesome! It cost me only about two dollars to make this log, which is slightly bigger than the one I usually buy. Score!! Celine's recipe is going to save so much money! Thank you, Queen Celine! I shall worship you for all eternity! I made my paste with skin-on almonds, because I am far too lazy to mess with that stuff.  See how it's lighter in the center? That's because I keep my almond paste in the freezer, and this log was still a bit frozen in the middle. Let's chop some up and make some blondies!

Homemade Almond Paste

These are my Almond Butter Blondies, but I actually made them with peanut butter this time. I like my peanut butter treats to be super sweet (the only kind of baked good that I like very sweet) so I increased the sugar to 3/4 cup. See the almond butter chunks on top of each square? Baking them made them lighter!





































The exposed chunks of almond paste became much lighter in color while baking, but you can't see the ones inside very well because they are almost the same color as the blondies.

Peanut Butter Blondies with Homemade Almond Paste
Aerial shot. Second day blondies become very gooey when you microwave them for a few seconds.

Today's entertainment comes via Pixiwoo again! This time, Nic demonstrates how to create a very professional Frankenstein's Monster look. It's amazing!



And today's duck picture is a very goofy looking Curly...

Goofy Curly

See you tomorrow! I am working on another ghostly video, but this time it will be a savory one!

*POOF* (That was me vanishing. Like a ghost. Never mind.)


Comments


  1. Hi,
    Will you please post a link to your Blog at The Veganism Community? Our members will appreciate it.
    Members include: Vegans, Veganism Experts, Vegan Lifestyle Advocates, Vegan Cooking, etc.
    It's easy to do, just cut and paste the link and it automatically links back to your website. You can also add Articles, News, Photos and Videos if you like.
    Email me if you need any help or would like me to do it for you.
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    I hope you consider sharing with us.
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    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh, I want to have a go at making my own almond paste, too! I've just been worried that my food processor won't be as good compared to people who have a Vitamix.

    The brownies look so rich and gooey, yum! I made pb swuares recently and even though they were mega sweet, I enjoyed them too. Must be the contrast with the pb.

    Curly, you pull the funniest faces!

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    Replies
    1. Pb swuares sound interesting but really I made regular ol' pb squares ;)

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    2. If you use store-bought almond meal you won't need a super powerful blender! I actually used the Blendtec to grind the whole nuts, and then transferred it to my food processor to finish the job.

      Something about peanut butter just begs for teeth-rotting sweetness! Maybe curly just had a sweet peanut butter treat and he is shocked at how much he liked it! :D

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  3. oh my goodness River. Those blondies look SO CRAZY GOOD. Plus I have a whole tin of almond paste in my pantry... just waiting to fulfill its purpose in life. I can't even believe how good these sound. Bookmarked! :)

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    Replies
    1. I hope you love them! These are actually my second favorite almond paste treat. My favorite is Fastelavnsboller. I will need to revisit that recipe soon now that I can have inexpensive almond paste! :D

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  4. Chocolate and potatoes! Now that's an interesting combo.

    Also, these blondies look delicious and if you sold them online I would buy them ALL. Almond paste rules!

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    Replies
    1. I wish I could send you a big batch! Almond paste does rule! And now that I can make it for peanuts (pun totally intended) I will be using it for everything! Maybe after eating so much almond paste I will be made mainly of chocolate, clementine juice, russet potatoes, and almond paste :D

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  5. The blondies look so good — but I don't have any almond paste so I'd have to make that first. It looks worth it, though.

    If you used the Frankenstein disguise, you could maintain your cover, and still be in the National Geographic show. Problem solved.

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    Replies
    1. It's definitely worth it! Ooh that's an excellent idea, Andrea! Maybe my stage name could be Frankenduck! Duckenstein? Frankengoose?

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  6. Celine is the best, isn't she? Your blondies look perfect!

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    Replies
    1. She's the cream of the crop! Or the almond paste of the crop?

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  7. Those look delicious!

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  8. Holy crap your blondies look crazy good!!
    Celine is pretty amazing. I haven’t made my own almond paste yet because I’m afraid my food processor will fail miserably but yours turned out perfect. It doesn’t dry out in the freezer?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I keep it tightly wrapped in plastic so it doesn't dry out. Besides almond paste never lasts me more than a couple of weeks! :D

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  9. These sound amazing. I'm a big fan of marzipan/almond paste - yum. I like the idea of chunks of it in a blondie.

    That video is awesome.

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    Replies
    1. Man, I could put that stuff in/on everything! I've already made some pumpkin muffins with an almond paste surprise in the center since I made these blondies. Cheap almond paste is a dangerous thing!

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  10. The link to almond paste recipe does not work. Can you provide the receipe, please?

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