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I’ve been making my own non-dairy milks in my Vitamix blender for as many years as I’ve been vegan (over five!). Homemade milks save you $$ MONEY! I’m frugal to the core.
Homemade milks also taste much better than the vast majority of packaged non-dairy milks. Of course, I do like the taste of packaged unsweetened soy milk (containing just organic soybeans and filtered water), but I haven’t found a commercial nut milk that I like. Sorry- but they taste icky and “chemically” to me. And, I don’t want vegetable gums/oils and sweeteners in my milk.
Here’s the milk I currently make…
COCO-HAZELNUT RICE MILK
Coco-Hazelnut Rice Milk Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
Scant 1/2 C cooked short or med grain brown rice (*do NOT use long grain)
1/3 C raw hazelnuts (or any kind of raw nut that you like)
1/4 C unsweetened coconut shreds (coarse or fine shred)
4 C water
1 t vanilla extract
ASSEMBLY
1. Cook a batch of brown rice ahead of time. Freeze in 1/2 cup portions so you’ll have just what you need when you’re ready to make some milk. Thaw the portion of rice while the nuts and coconut are soaking.
2. Soak the nuts and coconut in the water overnight or 4-8 hours, in the fridge.
3. Blend the rice, nuts, coconut, water and vanilla in a high powered blender.
4. I don’t strain out the sediment, but you can if you want to. I just shake before pouring. (After 5+ years of drinking homemade milks, the little bit of sediment just seems “normal” to me.)
5. Store in the fridge in glass jars. Use within about a week. (After that period of time, it will turn into a sort of kefir.)
Coco-Hazelnut Rice Milk
*To learn why you do NOT want to use long grain rice, read my previous blog post Milk A Plant. That post also contains my similar recipe for date-sweetened Brazil Nut Rice Milk.
This was my first attempt at making a NSNG (No Sugar No Grains) and GF (Gluten Free) “cookie,” and also my first time using coconut flour. I’ve got to say– I did pretty good! The only thing “bad” about these is they are too small! After they came out of the oven, I ate about 5 very quickly.
The hazelnut flavor really comes through in these moist little snack cakes. The coconut ingredients add both richness and texture. The fruits and carrot impart a subtle sweetness.
In this recipe, I used just 2 dates to bump up the sweet just a bit. That works out to about 0.053 dates per cake, or about a quarter of 1 date per 5 cakes. Not bad at all!
These hold together quite well, so I predict they’re going to be tucked into my ski jacket pocket this winter. I can’t wait for the flakes to start flying!
Coco-Hazelnut Snack Cakes (NSNG)
INGREDIENTS
3/4 C hazelnut flour (raw nuts ground in the Vitamix blender)
1/4 C garbanzo bean flour
1/4 C coconut flour
1/4 C ground flax seeds
1/4 C finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 t allspice
1/2 C full fat canned coconut milk
1/4 C unsweetened soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 t vanilla extract
2 Medjool dates, pitted
1 C shredded carrot
1 C shredded organic apple (about 1 large)
ASSEMBLY
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Blend the wet ingredients (i.e. milks, vanilla and pitted dates).
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir in the carrot and apple.
4. Use a cookie scoop (or 2 spoons) to drop batter balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten each ball and smooth the sides. Note that these retain their form/size during baking.
Coco-Hazelnut Snack Cakes (before baking)
5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Makes 38 or approximately 3 dozen. Freeze what you’re not going to eat right away.
Happy Fall…Enjoy!
Sunflower in a pumpkin patch – Hood River, Oregon
Freeheel Vegan 