Homemade Almond Meal or Flour

Making your own almond meal or almond flour takes no more than 5 minutes and just one ingredient. It can be used to make macarons, marzipan, pancakes, bread, cookies, and so much more.

When I grew up we only knew almond meal. It was one consistency finely ground almonds mostly used for macarons and marzipan. Sometimes we'd have coarse ground almond meal to use in cookies.

Table of Content

• When do you use almond meal and almond flour?
• Step by step instructions
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• Printable Recipe

These days, however, there is a difference between almond meal vs almond flour. What is the difference?

• Meal - is coarse ground and can be made from raw or blanched almonds with or without the skin on.
• Flour on the other hand is finely ground made from blanched almonds.

When do you use almond meal and almond flour?

• Meal - being coarse is perfect to use in bread, cookies, and recipes where you want to taste the texture of almonds.
• Flour - being finely ground is perfect when making macarons, marzipan, or treats where you want the almonds to blend with the flour ingredients.

In some cases, you can use them interchangeably but not everywhere. For example, you can use almond flour in cookies but not, almond meal in macarons or marzipan.

Step by step instructions

Almond meal

• Place the raw almonds in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely ground.
• This can be stored in an air-tight container for up to a month. You can even freeze for up to six months.

How to blanch almonds at home.

• Soak raw almonds in a hot water for about 20 minutes. Then remove the skin and let them dry completely.
  I like to spread them on a baking tray uncovered in the fridge overnight or place them in a warm oven (150 C) for about 10 minutes.
  Pro tip - it is very important that the almonds are dry when processing otherwise you will make almond paste not almond meal.

Almond flour

• Place blanched almonds in a food processor or high-speed blender. Pulse or blend at 30 seconds intervals shaking or stirring in between.
  Pro tip - It is very essential to blend or pulse in small bursts to prevent the almonds from releasing their oil.
• Pulse until you have a fine ground consistency close to flour. This can be stored in an air-tight container for up to a month. You can even freeze for up to six months.

Making almond meal/flour for macarons

• It is important to have DRY finely ground almond meal/flour when making macarons. The best way to do this is to add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar from the recipe to the food processor when blending.
  Pro tip - the dry powdered sugar will prevent the almonds from releasing any oils and you will have a wonderfully finely ground almond meal for macarons.

From almond pulp

• The almond pulp left in the strainer after making almond milk can be used to make almond meal.
• Squeeze the almond pulp as dry as you can. Then, spread the pulp on a baking tray in a thin layer.
  Pro tip - the drier the pulp the faster it will dry in the oven. I like to use a cheesecloth to squeeze as much moisture as I can.
• Bake in a preheated oven at 200°F/100°C for about 60 to 90 minutes or until completely dry stirring in between.
  Pro tip - do not be tempted to turn the oven on high as it can burn the pulp leaving a burnt taste
• Once dried place in a food processor and pulse to break any lumps and get an even consistency.
  Pro tip - make sure the pulp is cooled completely before pulsing in the food processor or you will have a soggy almond meal.

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Printable Recipe