How to blanch Almonds and make Almond flour

Almond flour is used in many gluten free recipes and baking.

If Almond flour/meal is not readily available to you in your area and you have some raw almonds at hand, here is a quick and easy way to make your own.

Ingredients :

2 cups of raw almonds

Boiled water to blanch

How to blanch almonds :

Add 2 cups of almonds to a bowl

Cover the almonds with boiled water and let sit for 1 minute.

Now drain the water.

Tip the almonds into a clean tea towel and gently but quickly fold the towel and rub the almonds together and the skins will slip of easily.

I let my blanched almonds dry in my oven without it being switched on overnight. But you can pre heat your oven to one 180 and then switch it off and put your almonds in a baking tray and then put them in the oven with the door slightly open until they have dried out. Or better still if you own a dehydrator, use that.

Making the Almond flour/meal :

Add your blanched almonds to your food processor.

Now pulse 2 or 3 times until it looks crumbly.

Now blitz away for a minute or two until you get a fine almond flour.

Be careful not to process it too much as you will release the natural oils and it will start to turn into almond butter.

Now your almond flour/meal is ready to use. At this point you may sift it but I just stored it into a zip lock bag straight away.

How to store blanched almonds and almond meal :

Blanched almonds can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 years.

Almond flour can be stored in your pantry for up to 2 months but I would recommend storing it in the coldest part of your fridge for up to 6 months or better still in the freezer for 12 months.

If freezing, let the flour come to room temperature before using in a recipe.

I hope this has been useful to you all :)