Scandinavian Style Almond Paste

Ingredients

• 2 cups almonds (blanched are good but using whole saves $$$)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (vanilla extract will work fine too but almond's optimal)

Directions

1. 1

   If you're using blanched almonds, you can skip this step. But the almonds have to be skinless for this to work or else the skin bits make it all gross and I'd rather pay $4 for a large bag of skinned almonds than $9 for blanched when I can do it myself. Anyway, blanch your almonds by placing them in warm water for 15-30 seconds so all the skin peels off.

2. 2

   Pulverize the almonds in a food processor.

3. 3

   Add the sugar, butter, and almond (or vanilla) extract. Keep mixing until smooth and perfectly melded.

4. 4

   Store in a glass jar or strong airtight plastic container, you can keep it at room temperature for up to 5 days and freeze for about 2-3 months. (Providing it won't magically disappear when you and your friends taste it! lol) Yields about 2 cups.

5. 5

   When you want to unfreeze it-- DO NOT microwave, transfer it to the fridge to thaw for a couple hours.