I want to make simple almond butter from scratch. Also, can I use a hand blender for making almond butter? Tks

A hand blender will not grind the almonds. You need a food processor, or a nut ginder (like the kind they use for peanut butter).

unless you are willing to invest in some serious kitchen equipment, nut butters are one of those things that really are worth buying rather than trying to make yourself,

If you have either a food processor or a food grinder, one of those old hand crank metal ones is what I use.

Run the almonds through a couple of times, they are hard to deal with. And do just a few at a time or it can jam.

I add canola oil to mine, a little bit at a time til I can get the paste going.

I have really only made a good cashew butter. the almond butter still had a lot of hard chunks in it. The pecans had to be toasted and had some chunks in it also. But it had the best flavor.