Make Your own Dairy Free Almond Milk
I have read quite often that bought almond milk has chemicals and is very sweet.
Having never bought it and wanting to use it in a few recipes, I decided to try my own. It is not at all sweet but if you are using it instead of dairy on cereals, etc, you could add more sweetener.
In all my research into making this, one thing that everyone said was that you have to strain it before putting it in the fridge as even though you blend it for a long time, sludge settles at the bottom. To my dismay I must have thrown out my cheesecloth so I ended up with almond milk with sludge! It was still usable however make sure you have your cheese cloth before you attempt this recipe!
Preparation Time: 40 minutes plus soaking time overnight
Cooking Time: 0 minutes
Makes: 4 cups
Ingredients
1½ cups blanched almonds (or ordinary almonds would work)
About 3 cups water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1½ tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
Dash cinnamon
Method
Cover and soak the almonds in water overnight - this makes them soft and easier to blend.
Strain the water, and put the almonds into a blender. Add 1½ cups clean water and blend to a smooth paste.
Blend for about 2 minutes, depending on how strong your blender is.
Add the cinnamon and maple syrup, and blend for another 2 minutes with the remaining water.
If the mixture is still thick, add some more water - it should now be the consistency of milk.
You will need to taste the milk to determine whether you want to add more sweetener or anything else.
Place several layers of cheesecloth in a strainer over a bowl.
Pour the almond milk through this using a spatula or similar to move the sludge around so that the liquid can pass through.
Once this is done, and you may have to do it in batches, tie up the cheesecloth and remove - I used a metal strainer which only took out some of the sludge, and I used the sludge for my worm farm, however it would also be good to use on cereals.
This is the sludge at the bottom from just part of the almond milk
Categories
#dairy_free
#free_from_dairy
#no_dairy
#no_chemicals
#almond_milk
#use_in_baking
#use_on_cereal
#almonds
#maple_syrup
%recipeyum
227959 - 2023-07-17 10:34:27
