Sweet Nut Milk

I use nut milk almost daily. In smoothies (like this one), on granola in the morning, in coffee or herbal tea, and basically anywhere dairy milk would be used. This is a sweet, indulgent milk. I like to use a combo of the nuts mentioned below, but sometimes I just use one. 

You'll need...

1 c raw, soaked and rinsed nuts

(such as hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, macadamia, peanuts or brazil nuts)

3 dates, soaked and pitted***

1 vanilla bean, soaked if necessary (or 1 tsp extract)

cinnamon (optional)

6 c of water

*** Or you can use 1 Tbsp sweetener of choice, such as maple syrup or coconut nectar
*** For an un-sweet milk, just blend the nuts with water

Nut milk bag, fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth

Let's get started!

Blend all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth. Grab your nut milk bag and a large bowl. Hold the bag open over the bowl and slowly pour the milk in, squeezing when necessary to get the milk out. 

Keep pouring the milk in to the bag, and squeezing the milk out until only dry pulp is left in the bag.

I like to pour my milk back into the blender, to make it easier to pour into a jar. Make sure you label your jar, it wouldn't be very fun to mix your nut milk and your ranch. You can save the leftover pulp and add it to muffins, smoothies, or cakes, or you could dehydrate it into a nut flour.

I just love how you can see the vanilla beans floating at the top.