Homemade Almond Milk with Cinnamon

I've been wanting to make a big batch of homemade almond milk for awhile now, and I've finally gotten down to business. Before, I was buying pre-made coconut milk, but wanted to shake things up a bit. I feel it's best to rotate between alternative milks in order to ward off development of new food sensitivities or allergies, which can develop if you rely too heavily on one ingredient for an extended period of time.

The almond milk came out smooth, creamy and delicious. The hardest part was waiting for the nuts to soak adequately for about 8-12 hours before the rest of the process began.

 

Rinse your almonds (or nuts of choice) before soaking them for 8-12 hours.

After soaking the almonds (I soak them in a colander sitting in a sauce pan of water for easy extraction), pull them out, rinse, and dump into a high powered blender. Our blender is Black and Decker and it works like a dream.

Blend the 2 cups of soaked nuts with about 6 cups of filtered water for a good 2-3 minutes. Hold your lid down tight! After blending, set up a jar and fine cloth bag for straining (we use cheese cloth bags, you can also use paint strainer bags which are really inexpensive).

Slowly pour the blend through the mesh bag into a storage jar. Emphasis on slowly, as it takes a bit for it to strain through. Pick up the bag and slowly begin to squeeze the the milk out of the bag. Once all the liquid is squeezed through, you're left with what looks like an almond meal substance. Right now I'm letting the almond pulp/meal dry out for about 3 hours. After, I'll blend it into a fine almond flour in my blender and use it for baking. You won't waste anything from this recipe, and you'll be saving money since pre-made almond flour is wicked expensive these days. The finished almond milk is full of nutrients and enzymes and is perfect for making smoothies or drinking it alone.

Add a few good shakes of organic cinnamon (I use McCormick or Simply Organic) and stir until well blended. Refrigerate the milk and use it within 3-4 days for freshness. Next time I'll be experimenting with adding vanilla extract or maybe some cacao powder for a chocolate almond milk. This is my new favorite alternative milk by far.

Check out other ways to use left over almond pulp after milk making here.

What's your favorite way to make non-dairy milk?

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