Chilli cacao & chai spiced homemade almond milk

Spice up your day with these delicous nut milk recipes.

Homemade almond milk is an easy, delicious alternative to store-bought nut milk or dairy milk. There are a few benefits to making it yourself: you can easily avoid any preservatives and stabilisers, you can choose exactly the creaminess and texture you like and, of course, you can get as creative as you like with your flavours and add-ins! For these recipes, I’ve put a little Sarah’s Spoonful twist on some classic flavoured milks. I promise these are nothing like those little cartons you used to get in school, though. These milks are semisweet, a little spicy and utterly delicious.

If you like, you can use the base of this recipe to make plain almond milk. Watch this Youtube video to see how it’s done here. Homemade unsweetened almond milk has a very neutral, mild flavour, so you might like to add a pinch of sea salt or a dash of a natural sweetener like honey or maple syrup. Remember that dairy milk naturally contains some sugar and flavour (and store-bought almond milk is never made with just almonds), so homemade nut milk will taste a little different from what you’re used to. 

Another important thing to note about making your own almond milk is that the end result will only be as good as the blender you use. Unfortunately, this may not be the best recipe for your run-of-the-mill countertop blender. Although it will still work, for a super creamy milk you will need a high-powered blender. I used my Vibe Blender to pulse the almonds into an incredibly fine powder. The end result is perfect - oh-so-silky and smooth. The Vibe Blender is my favourite kitchen all-rounder. It is an investment, but it essentially does the work of a blender, a food processor and an immersion blender (because it can blend hot liquids in its stainless-steel jug) all in one, so I definitely think it’s worth it. 

There are a couple of other little tricks you can use for creamy milk. First, the longer you soak your nuts, the better your milk will be. As a minimum, I recommend soaking for eight hours. The easiest way to do this is simply to pop your almonds in a bowl on your kitchen counter before bed and then finish the recipe the next day. You can also adjust the consistency by changing your ratio of nuts to water. This recipe makes quite a luscious milk, perfect for adding to coffee or tea, but to save money you could dilute the milk by adding another half cup of water. Of course, you can always add more water to the milk once it’s finished, so err on the side of using less and then adjust as needed. Phew - I think that’s enough of this crash-course. Read on for the recipes!

NOTE: You can substitute the sweeteners for 1 medjool date if you prefer.

This post is proudly featured in collaboration with Sarah MacDonald of Sarah's Spoonful.

ALMOND MILK TWO WAYS 

BASIC ALMOND MILK 

1 cup raw, unsalted almonds
4 cups soaking water, plus 2 ½ more for the milk

CHILLI CACAO

3 teaspoons cacao
2 teaspoons rice malt syrup (or raw honey)
1 big pinch dried chilli flakes or to taste
¼ teaspoon of sea salt 

CHAI SPICED

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons raw honey
¼ teaspoon of sea salt

METHOD

1.   Place almonds into a bowl and cover with four cups of water. Leave at room temperature for at least 8 hours. If you have the time, 24-36 hours is ideal.
2.   Rinse almonds thoroughly and discard the soaking water.
3.   Add almonds to the Luvele Vibe Blender and pour over two and a half cups of water. Blend on ‘nut’ mode until completely smooth and no dark chunks of almonds are visible. This will take about 40 seconds. 
4.   Pour the milk into a nut milk bag over a bowl. Holding the top closed, squeeze the bag from top to bottom until no further liquid comes out. 

5.   You should now have a smooth, creamy milk in the bowl and leftover almond pulp in the nut milk bag. Do not discard the pulp - it can be used for other recipes. 
6.   Rinse out the Vibe Blender and pour the nut milk back into the jug. 
7.   Add your desired flavour add ins. The quantities listed above will give this whole batch a subtle flavour. For a stronger flavour, you can split the milk into two batches and make two different flavours. Of course, you can also adjust the quantities of spices for an extra spicy single batch.
8.   Pour the milk into a clean, airtight container and store in the fridge for up to four days.

RELATED POSTS: Watch how easy it is to make almond milk on our Youtube channel or learn how to make a yummy granola with the left-over almond pulp.

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