Homemade Almond Milk: Take 1

I've been loving almond milk these days! I didn't think I would enjoy it so much, but it really is delicious! And it's nice to know it's healthy for you and loaded with lots of vitamins!

You know what almond milk is so good in? Homemade Hot Cocoa! It is delicious! Cocoa powder, a little raw sugar, almond milk, and some vanilla and almond extracts. Oh my.. it is wonderful!

Well, I heard it was pretty easy to make almond milk yourself, so I decided to give it a try! I found a recipe on a blog I follow: Run Hard Eat Clean.


Finely-ground Almonds



"Almond Joy" (click link to view the original recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1 tbsp agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2-5 cups of water

Directions

1. Blend the almonds in a blender until finely ground. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and blend on high until smooth. Leave the "pulp" in for extra thickness or drain using a sieve (or coffee filter) for a milker consistancy. 
 
2. Refrigerate the milk. Save and refrigerate the pulp for a later use, such as mixing into baked goods!

   

   The "Pulp"
   Don't discard the ground-up almonds -
   they are perfect for adding to dessert recipes!

   

Well, this was my first time making almond milk, and let's just say you really need to play around with the ratio of almonds to water until you reach your personal preference. With 1/2 cup almonds and 4 cups of water, I felt the mixture was a little too watery. More water if you want your milk closer to a skim milk consistancy, and less water (or more almonds) if you want a creamier consistancy. Next time I will have to trying reducing the amount of water to 2 - 3 cups.

Keep posted for a recipe I made with the almond pulp!