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One of the most difficult parts for a new vegan is finding an alternative to dairy milk. The most common thing to change it with is almond milk. Almond milk can get expensive, so making your own can often save you more than a few dollars.
Almond milk in it’s simplest form (unsweetened, un-enriched), is simply water drawn through ground almonds. You can often use sweeteners such as sugar, agave or maple syrup if you prefer to have a sweeter milk. By sweetening the milk, it becomes a perfect addition to any dessert.
What You Need (Ingredients)
2 cups of water
1 cup of raw almonds
A sweetener such as agave syrup or maple syrup. You can sweeten with sugar but it won’t taste as good. If you are not vegan, you can also use honey which provides a nice natural sweetener.
Instructions
1. You will need to soak the almonds for up to 2 days. Put the almonds in a bowl, and cover with water. The water should be about an inch above the almonds in the bowl, as the almonds will soak up the water over time. The longer you can soak the almonds, the creamier the almond milk will be.
2. Rinse the almonds. Remove the almonds from the soaking water, and rinse them several times under some running water. The almonds should be soft by this time.
3. Place the almonds and 2 cups of water into a blender.
4. Pulse the blender a couple of times just to break the almonds up a little. Once the almonds are reasonable split up, blend on a relatively high speed for 2 minutes. You may need to stop half way to scrape the sides. When finished, the almonds should be a very fine grain in the water, and the water itself should be white (Not clear!).
5. Strain the almonds though a very fine sieve. You will need to use a wooden spoon to press out all the liquid from the almonds. The final result should be a very white liquid. Basically looking like regular dairy milk.
6. You can now sweeten the almond milk to taste. Then store in a refrigerator for up to 2 days.
What to do with the left over almond meal?
Once storing the milk, you will be left with a sieve full of almond meal. This can be added to any cake/muffin/cookie recipe to create a lovely nutty flavor. You can even bake it by itself on a tray and save as a snack!
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