Homemade Almond Milk

Did you all know you can make your own almond milk at home? Enjoy a cold, creamy, satisfying glass for a fraction of the cost AND without any artificial flavorings or ingredients? Now I myself am not a huge milk drinker, bovine or the almond kind. I do however make almond milk for my grandparents. My poor grandma has been taken off milk and she is REALLY missing it. So lately I have been making sure her refrigerator is stocked. I figured it would be a good opportunity to share how to make it at home yourself.

To start you only need raw almonds, a big bowl, and some water.

Now....I am not a crazy plant lady.....I PROMISE hehehehe.

I really do need to find the ginormous white poinsettia a home other than the corner of my kitchen table.

Ok, enough plant talk. Place 2 cups of raw almonds in the large glass bowl and add enough water to completely cover them. Allow them to soak overnight or at least 6 hours. After soaking drain the almonds should be nice and swollen.

Next place in a blender, half of the almonds and 3 cups filtered water. Blend for at least 45 seconds or more. You want the almonds blended into a pulp.

Now pour the liquid through a fine colander to strain out the pulp from the milk.

To maximize the amount of milk, scoop out the pulp and place in a cheesecloth. Then squeeze any remaining liquid from the pulp. Now repeat process with remaining water and almonds.

This is what you will be left with. A big pile O' pulp. You can do whatever you want with this. You can spread it out to dry on a cookie sheet then use a coffee grinder to make some almond meal flour, or add the pulp to baked goods for some extra crunch and fiber, or toss in the trash.

That's all there is to making your own almond milk at home. You can also use this recipe to make vanilla almond milk. Just add either 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 2 vanilla beans along with your favorite sweetener (agave, honey, stevia, splenda, or soaked dates) if using dates, use about 4-6 that have been soaked along with the almonds then just blend them along with the almonds and water.

Isn't that pretty?

Here is the recipe breakdown:

2 cups raw almonds
Enough water to cover almonds
6 cups filtered water
*optional* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 2 vanilla beans then sweetener of your choice to taste to make vanilla almond milk.

Place almonds in a glass bowl and add enough water to cover them completely. Allow to soak overnight or at least 6 hours until almonds are swollen.
After almonds have soaked overnight, drain water and rinse.
Place half of the almonds and three cups filtered water in a good quality blender. Blend for at least 45 seconds or longer until there are no large pieces of almonds. Pour into a cheesecloth or a fine colander to drain milk from the almond pulp. This will make 1 1/2 quarts of almond milk.
Repeat process with remaining almonds and water.