A Delcious home-made Food Gift! x
I made this tasty home-made chocolate hazelnut milk with soaked hazelnuts. This chocolate version has a deeper, rich & tasty chocolate flavor but isn’t too sweet. I didn’t use medjool dates because I am not very fond of them. I used maple syrup, grade C to sweeten & also used coconut sugar sweetened raw cacao nibs. Yummmmm! :)
Why do you need to soak your raw nuts for 8 to 24 hours?
The nuts become less raw & they are easily digested in the stomach. When these nuts are soaked, then well-drained & rinsed, they become more useful to use in raw vegan cheesecakes, in baked desserts, in muffins or in bread. Or you can make your own vegan cheese or spread.
You can make nut milk from every nut or a mix of nuts that you like & love. You even can make milk out of seeds like sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. Most recipes on the internet say that you use 1 cup of raw nuts & 3 to 4 cups pure water. In this recipe, I used 3 cups of water. Why? because I like it this way & the nut milk is thicker & creamier too. You can make your own nut milk & add whatever ingredients you want, vanilla, sweeten it with dates, agave or maple syrup, add extra yummy things like chocolate, cacao nibs, coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs, carob, cacao or add in spices: it is up to you! I will not strain my pulp because it is more healthy to drink up your pulp & my Vitamix mixes it all in really well. If you have a normal blender, it is better to strain your nut milk. See this post before on how you should do that! Recipe: For 1250 ml = 5 cupsIngredients:
1 cup raw, unsalted hazelnuts, covered in 2 cups clean water, soaked in water for at least 8 to 24 hours, kept in the fridge, nuts well rinsed & drained/ I always soak them overnight in the fridge.
3 cups clean water
1 cup of coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs
2/4 cup maple syrup, grade C + 1 tablespoon
Method:
Since I got my Vitamix TNC 5200, I have made my all of my nut milks & seed milks in this fabulous machine. Because I use my Vitamix, I don’t have to strain my hazelnut pulp. It is all well & finely mixed into the liquid. It has more flavour, is thicker, has more power & is much healthier that way!! If you don’t have a power blender like I do, then you will have to strain your milk by using a nut milk bag. How to use it & step by step guide, you will find, on one of my earlier posts:Here!
1. Place your soaked, rinsed & well-drained hazelnuts in your Vitamix blender & add 3 cups of clean water. Add coconut sugar sweetened cacao nibs & 2/4 cup of maple syrup too. Place your fitting lid on with the tamper in it. Now, turn your machine gradually on from speed 1 to 10 & then, turn on high power. Mix your nut milk for 1 minute or 2 or until completely mixed. Do this, by pushing the tamper up & down to make the ingredients go into the running blades. Now, taste. It has to have a more deeper, rich chocolate flavor & it has to be sweet but not too sweet. I added that 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, like mentioned on the list. Mix again.
2. Now, pour the tasty home-made vegan chocolate hazelnut milk in a clean bottle & turn the lid on. Label it. Keep in the fridge for most 4 to 5 days. Everytime, you want to drink it, you must shake your bottle up & down because otherwise the heavily parts will sink to the bottom. You need a smooth drink all the way! You will be left with 1/2 glass of chocolate hazelnut milk. You can drink it straight away!
You can decorate this lovely bottle with a nice lint & give it away as a lovely home-made food gift. :) MMM,…too! :) Enjoy! The uses are endless!
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Sophies Foodie Files
Filed under: Breakfast, Dairy - Free, Drinks, Egg - Free, Food Gifts, Gluten - Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
