Day 21 of VeganMoFo….
Welcome to another Staple Sunday! So far I have posted the One-Ingredient Roasted Almond Butter (can you guess what the ingredient is?) and Basic Cashew Cream {10 ways}. This week is Homemade Almond Milk Step-by-Step. If you have never made your own milk you are in for a real treat! Milk as a treat? YES! I may not know how to milk a cow (and frankly why would I want to?) but I sure can milk a nut! Feel free to giggle.
Making your own nut milk is very easy and you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry: almonds, vanilla, salt and a sweetener of choice, I used maple syrup but agave, brown rice syrup, dates or stevia would work (I can’t eat anything with stevia since it gives me a wicked headache, has anyone else had this problem?). So why bother to make it yourself when now there are so many great dairy-free options? Homemade almond milk is about a zillion times better than store bought. You may have a Kristen Wiig moment in Bridemaids because damn this stuff is good.
I like to soak my almonds overnight but if you forgot to 2 hours should be good. After soaking them, drain, rinse and add them to your blender. Put in some earplugs because we are going turbo! I am not too sure how this recipe would fare in a non heavy-duty blender. If you don’t have one, it is still possible but you might not yield as much milk.
A nut milk bag (more giggles!) is needed to squeeze out all the delicious milk from the mixture after it is blended.
Wtf is a nut milk bag? It is generally a medium sized drawstring bag made of different kinds of finely woven material. Mine is made of hemp but I have seen others made up of cotton, nylon or linen. I got my bag from The Big Carrot in Toronto but check any well-stocked health food store for their selection.
“Oh the blender woke you up? Sorry sweetie! Well, since you are awake can you be my hand model?” Thanks Mark!
This milk is lightly sweetened but if you like sweeter milk just add more sweetener of choice but I think it is pretty amazing all on its own. Milking my own almonds made me feel like a little homegrown country gal except in my high-rise apartment in Toronto.
13 recipes down, 7 more to go……
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups water (not the soaking water)
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- Place almonds in a large bowl and fill with water, enough to completely submerge the nuts. Soak for 2-8 hours.
- Drain and rinse the soaked almonds.
- Add the almonds and fresh water to a high-speed blender.
- Blend on high until all the nuts are blended. Turn up to turbo and blend for 1 minute.
- Set the nut milk bag in a deep large bowl. Pour the blender contents into the bag. A lot of the milk will pour through the bag without effort.
- Slowly lift the bag from the top of the bag and with the other hand gently squeeze the bottom of the bag. Be sure not to squeeze too hard or the pulp can shoot out at you! It took about 5-6 squeezes to get all the milk out.
- Set the bag with the pulp aside.
- Rinse out the blender and add the milk back in.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend for 30 seconds to combine.
- Best served chilled. The milk will separate but just give it a good shake or stir before drinking.
You were recommended to me by Twitter, so I came to explore! Your blog is wonderful! And your photography is lovely. Never made my own almond milk… but it looks simple enough, so I think I’ll give it a shot.
Happy to connect with you
xx Bianca
It is super simple! I hope my step-by-step pictures help people see that it isn’t too challenging especially for a new cook. It is worth the effort because this stuff is amazing and so fresh. Thank you for your comment and I look forward to seeing what you post soon!
I’ve never tried making my own almond milk, but I’ve always been curious.
Your photography is so inspiring! Because I always end up wanting to make what you post, I’ve nominated you for a Liebster Award. See my post about it here: http://thejudgmentalvegan.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/the-judgmental-vegan-receives-a-liebster-awards-thank-you-s-from-just-about-vegan/
That is the nicest compliment! I hope my photos make readers hungry. Thank you so much for such a beautiful comment. If you could only see me blush!