I know, I know, the trend to make your own nut milk has been overly exhausted by now. There are probably a billion recipes out there, so why should mine be any different? Well, to anyone who says “geez Ineke, get creative, I´ve already done it a thousand times”, I hope you´ll accept me into the nut-milk-lover-club. To anyone else: You have to try this recipe!!

I can´t remember ever really liking cow milk. I was never able to drink a glass of milk, something about the taste just didn’t sit well with me. I only ever used it in granola or to make desserts. A couple of years ago I tried soy milk and since then I can count the times I bought regular milk. The only time I have it at home is when my boyfriend is there and needs his daily cup of coffee. Other than that, I completely switched to non-dairy-milk and have tried almost everything there is. My favorite is almond milk and once I found out that you can make nut milk at home I´ve been experimenting with different nuts and spices. Mixing almonds and hazelnuts has been my favorite so far so I thought that, regardless of the nut-milk-recipe-overkill on the internet, you might be interested in this recipe as well.

Making nut milk is really the easiest thing there is. All you have to do is soak the nuts over night, blend them and then pour the mixture through a cloth to sieve out the chunks of the nuts. Simple as that. The best part is that you know exactly what´s in it and you can adapt it to your liking. Vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, dates…all kind of different spices and sweeteners can be used so you have a real personalized milk in your fridge. Of course you could also only use on type of nuts, like almonds are hazelnuts, but mixing the two really makes a difference. With the first sip you mostly notice the sweet flavor of vanilla, then hazelnuts and lastly the almonds. It really tastes great and can be used for nearly everything…oatmeal, pancakes, granola or smoothies.

Makes 0,75 – 1 liter milk

100 g almonds

100 g hazelnuts

1 vanilla bean

4 dates

750 – 1000 ml water

1) Soak the nuts for at least 8 hours or overnight in water. The longer they are soaking, the creamier the result. Afterwards, drain and rinse the nuts thoroughly and place them in a blender, together with the dates and the core of the vanilla bean. You could add a step and peel the nuts first, the milk will turn out whiter but it´s not necessary.

2) Add 500 ml of water and blend the mixture, then add the rest of the water, depending on how creamy you want your milk, add more or less. Line a strainer with a nut milk bag or a clean thin linnen towel and place over a large bowl. Pour the mixture over the towel, gather the ends and carefully squeeze out the milk. Pour the milk into a clean bottle and store in the fridge. It keeps well for 3-5 days.

The remaining nuts that end up in the towel don´t need to be thrown away, it´s great for muffins or waffles.