We have a scruffy little four month old puppy named Maggie, who we have nicknamed the Shad (short for Shadow). Maggie follows us everywhere, and hates to be away from our side. Usually, this is quite cute, however Maggie has taken a fondness for Ugg boots so when ever we walk around the house in our Uggs, Maggie latches on being dragged along the house with us. This was cute also to start with, until she completely ruined Bing’s shoes, and now its not quite as funny.
Today, Maggie went for her first hair cut. Whilst I prefer the shaggy look, it had gotten to the point where Maggie’s eyes were covered completely by a mop of hair, and therefore we thought it time to take her in for a tidy up. Unfortunately for dogs, the hair cutting experience is a little different to what it is for humans – theres no cups of tea, no trashy mags to indulge in while your hair is cut, and no head and neck massage after your wash. Instead, when I went to pick up our cute, scruffy little puppy, a scared looking little dog in a cage was staring back at me, almost unrecognisable with neat, styled hair (I swear they used GHDs to get her coat so straight!)
I felt so sorry for my poor little friend I thought it only fair to give her a treat, and so we grabbed the biggest bag of pigs ears I could find on the way out. And whilst Maggie was gnawing away on her pigs ear once we got home, I decided to make a treat of my own – my favorite nut butter.
This nut butter is very simple to make, and can also be quite quick. I roasted the nuts myself and ground the spices, but you could always buy already roasted nuts and use ground spices to speed up the process :)
Enjoy! x
Roasted Chai Nut Butter
2 Cups mixed nuts (I used almonds, cashews, walnuts and pecans)
2 tsp maple syrup
Seeds from 6 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius. Spread nuts out on a baking tray and bake for around 15 minutes, checking half way. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Grind cardamom pods and cloves in a mortar and pestle, add cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Place nuts in food processor until are smooth (around 5 minutes). Add spices, salt and maple syrup and mix until combined.
Store nut butter in a closed container in the fridge for up to a week.
this recipe is delicious! Sign me up!