After buying some almond flour for a recipe it occurred to me to go to Google “How to make almond flour” and found this. This post from http://allsortsofpretty.com/how-to-make-almond-milk-and-almond-flour-a-surprisingly-easy-diy/ also tells you how to make almond milk as well as almond flour. Go for it!

 

HOW TO MAKE ALMOND MILK AND ALMOND FLOUR – SURPRISINGLY EASY 

Not pictured here is a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, which you should add since it breaks down the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and cultures beneficial enzymes in the almonds.  I don’t really know what that means, but a trusted source says to do it, so I figure it can’t hurt.

If it didn’t take so long to soak the almonds, you could call this a 5 minute ordeal when all is said and done.  It’s just a matter of putting your soaked almonds in a blender with water, letting it blend for a minute or two and then straining – either with cheese cloth or a nut milk bag.  I bought mine here and bonus: it came with a hand written note thanking me for my order.  Here’s proof.

Here’s the full recipe and how to, although it’s almost laughable at how easy it is that you won’t need a recipe after you make it one time.

Ingredients & Equipment

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 8-10 cups of water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• nut milk bag or cheesecloth
• blender
• Optional: natural sweeteners like stevia, dates, honey, maple syrup, vanilla.

Instructions

• Soak almonds in 2-3 cups of water and salt for at least 12 hours.
• Give the almonds a good rinse and toss in a blender with 8 cups of water, or however much your blender will hold.  You may need to do a couple of batches if you don’t have a big enough blender, but that’s okay.
• Let the blender run on high for a  minute or two, until you can see it’s creamy and mixed well (the almonds should be teeny tiny little bits)
• Grab your cheese cloth or nut milk bag and pour your almond mixture through it.  Squeeze thoroughly until no moisture comes through, but for the love of god DO NOT THROW AWAY THE ALMOND PULP!!!  Because you can make almond flour with it, which is super expensive, is gluten free, is a tremendous alternative to wheat flours, is very nutritious and a great way to use up every last bit of those healthy almonds.  Don’t throw it away.  Just throw it in the fridge until you get the time to dry it out (I’ll explain that further below).
• If sweetening your milk, put it back in the blender (rinse it first) and add whatever natural sweetener you like.  For me, I like to keep the whole batch plain and just sweeten a glass as I go if I feel like having it sweet.

Yields: about 2 quarts of milk

A few tips and tricks:

Your milk will separate after a little while in the fridge.  This is totally normal, just give it a good shake.

Your almond milk will last about 5-7 days in the fridge.

To make coffee creamer, just use less water (maybe half) and add whatever sweeteners and spices you want.  I’m thinking next fall I’ll make some with pumpkin spice, vanilla and stevia.  Yum!  I bet you

Someone asked me if this saves money and after really looking in to it, I can say that YES it definitely can if you make sure to use the almond pulp by making flour with it – then you save lots because that stuff is like $10/lb.  Otherwise, you are probably paying about the same (maybe a little more), but you’re also cutting out any unnecessary additives, processing and preservatives for a much healthier alternative – how long do you think it took that almond milk to get from the factory to your refrigerator?  I’m not some crazy DIY almond milk activist that is judging anyone if you don’t make your own – people are busy, especially moms so I get it.  But if you want to make your own, know that it is easy and worthwhile.

How to Make Almond Flour (also called almond meal)

When you strain all the liquid out with your cheese cloth, you’ll have the pulp left over, pictured above.  This has lots of nutrition left and can be made in to flour that you can use in baked goods to make healthier, clean versions of your favorite foods.  Or make french macarons (and then send them to me).

Again, this is super easy, but just takes a little bit of time.  If you don’t have time right then to make the flour, just put it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days or even freeze it if you know it will be a while before you can dry it out.  Or send it to me because I won’t let it go to waste. Either way, it would be sad to throw it out so don’t.

Spread the almond mixture out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the oven at the lowest setting (for me, it was 170 degrees) for a few hours.  You can leave the oven door open just a crack to release any moisture and help it dry out faster.  Mine was done after 3 hours.

• Once it’s dry, let it cool and pop it in a food processor or blender to get a finer texture.

So that’s it!  Nothing complicated or sophisticated about it, just takes waiting for the almonds to soak and then bake. Let me know how it turns out.

 

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