Vanilla Rose Almond Milk

Hannah Sunderani
Apr 23, 2016
4 min read

My name is Hannah and I am an almond milk-aholic.

Years ago I made the transition from milk to almond milk, and I've never looked back. I am a total addict who really can't get enough of the stuff. I've even converted my family and friends. But, even though I love this delicious milky beverage I have never been interested in making my own. Almond milk is so popular now and I've always figured, "what's the point?" There are hundreds of brands to choose from!

Actually, I did try making it in my early twenties, in University when the stress of student life led me to develop an intolerance to milk. At the time almond milk was hard to find and so I took the DIY approach. The problem was, I didnt have a nut milk bag (I actually had no idea what this was at the time) and so I used a good old-fashioned strainer. The whole thing turned out a mess! Perhaps it was a combination of my terrible strainer and the not-so-awesome online recipe, but it SUCKED. That was five years ago, and since then I've had a bad attitude towards the homemade stuff. I'll take the domestic thanks!

However, my resistance to DIY recently changed for a couple reasons. First, my friends kept raving about the Oh She Glows homemade almond milk recipe. Since I'm such an almond milk-aholic they were shocked I hadn't tried it. I felt a little embarrassed, but figured "I dont have a nut milk bag anyways so what's the point?" Then, Erin Ireland went through a phase where she was Snapchatting her homemade almond and it looked, in Erin's words, to die for! I started to think "maybe I am missing something..." But the tipping point for me was when I saw that Erin also didn't have a nut milk bag; she used a thin white t-shirt! After that I really didn't have an excuse but to give it another go.

We recently moved to France, and so I wanted to wait until I purchased a new high performance blender (HPB). (Outlets here are different in Canada and so I had to leave my Blendtech behind). I ended up buying the Omniblend HPB online because I was struggling to find a powerful blender in stores. I was secretly hoping to find a nut milk bag while awaiting its arrival, but unfortunately no luck. So I purchased a thin white tee and called it a day.

You will never guess what happened next... I think the gods were listening because the day my beautiful Omniblend arrived I opened the box to find a stunning high performance blender, and inside that blender a NUT MILK BAG! I was literally jumping for joy! It really felt like a miracle! I had been looking all over and *poof!* here it was on MY dining table, claiming me its new owner. It sounds so ridiculous I know, but I was in chef heaven.

The next day I made my very first batch of homemade almond milk from the Oh She Glows recipe. Turns out - I FREAKING LOVE IT! Yep. I am an almond milk-aholic for the craft stuff. And once you go craft, you never go back. Homemade almond milk is so rich, thick and creamy. It's like a fine wine; you want to savour every swallow and let the flavours linger on your taste buds. Did I also mention that it froths to make gorgeous almond milk lattes!? Someone pinch me please! But what makes it even better is how easy it is to make! (When you have the right tools!) Since I've discovered this beautiful drink I've made a few renditions of it - chocolate, lavender and this Vanilla Rose one I'm posting today. I am obsessed.

I hope you have as delightful an experience as I did giving this recipe another try. If you don't have a nut milk bag, try a thin t-shirt like Erin. And if you dont have rose extract, you can make it without. I promise the traditional is just as good. Thank you Angela, Erin and friends for renewing my interest in creating this delicious DIY drink!

Vanilla Rose Almond Milk

Makes 3 Cups

Ingredients:

1 cup almonds, soaked overnight
3 1/2 cups filtered water
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 tsp rose extract
2 dates (or to taste)
pinch cinnamon
pinch sea salt

Directions:

Strain your soaked almonds and add to your blender
Add filtered water, vanilla bean, rose extract, dates, cinnamon and salt
Blend on high for at least one minute, then give it a taste for sweetness, if desired add more dates
Place your nut milk bag inside a big bowl, and slowly pour your milk into the bag to strain. Gently squeeze the bag allowing the milk to seep out.
Continue to squeeze the milk from the bag, moving your hands around the bag to allow new areas to be milked. Squeeze until you can no longer remove milk from the bag.
Pour the freshly squeezed milk from your bowl back into your blender (this just allows for easy pouring into a bottle).
Transfer the milk into an air tight bottle and store in the fridge