The “Delicious” New Limited-Edition Spread I’ve Eaten 5 Mornings in a Row (It’s That Good)

I’m a big Big Spoon Roasters fan. Based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, the company is most well-known for its small-batch nut butters that come in classic and unique flavors — like Carrot Cake, Lemon Cookie, and Vanilla Latte — you won’t find elsewhere. The specialty ones are often limited-edition seasonal drops, so I’m constantly checking in for the next new release.

So when I got word the team had plans to launch an aptly named Sugar Plum Almond & Hazelnut Butter for the holidays, I jumped at the chance to try a jar. Just as I suspected, it was, in a word, delicious, and I quickly found excuses to smear it on everything. Let’s get into it. 

For its latest seasonal flavor, Big Spoon Roasters took inspiration from the classic holiday poem “Twas The Night Before Christmas,” making the “visions of sugarplums” [that] danced in the children’s heads come to life. Not just a storybook fantasy, sugar plums are an actual delicacy. 

As alluded to on the company’s website, sugar plums have been enjoyed as far back as the 1600s, where “the English knew them as containing any variety of minced fruit rolled into small balls with nuts.” Other origins state that sugar plums got their name from a technique that literally preserved plums in sugar. Over the years however, sugar plums became synonymous with any small candy or bite-size treat. 

Big Spoon Roasters’ interpretation is made from heirloom mission almonds, Oregon hazelnuts, organic maple syrup, organic cinnamon and cloves, Ugandan bourbon vanilla, and Jacobsen sea salt, and is studded with whole pieces of organic cashews, cranberries, and apricots. The nut butter is also vegan, gluten-, palm-, and soy-free, and is made with fair labor cashews as well as bee-friendly almonds. 

If you’re eager to get your hands on a jar, do so quickly — the Sugar Plum flavor is only available until December 31. You can find it on Big Spoon’s website where it retails for $16.99 per jar. (It would make a great holiday gift, too.) 

Straight off the bat, the Sugar Plum nut butter has that same thick, gritty texture I’ve come to love from every Big Spoon Roasters jar — it’s the perfect mix between smooth and chunky. And yet, this nut butter stands in a class all its own thanks to the whole pieces of cashews and dried fruit. Together, they add an intriguing chewy bite that tastes a bit more like candy compared with your standard nut butter. 

It’s subtly sweet, thanks to the maple syrup and the warming spices and vanilla scream HOLIDAY. The nuts provide a great backdrop for all the flavors to shine, although I got more almond flavor than I did hazelnut. It has that holiday, panettone, fruit, and nut vibe that I seriously can’t get enough of this time of year. 

I’ve been adding it to oatmeal, yogurt, toast, smoothies all week long, and most often, sneaking spoonfuls straight out of the jar. 

Have you tried any of Big Spoon Roasters’ nut butters? Let us know in the comments.