Silky Almond Milk from Scratch with Date and Vanilla

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

Real almond milk tastes nothing like the boxed stuff: sweet, faintly grassy, thick enough to coat a glass. Raw almonds soak overnight until the skins slip and the nuts go soft, then get blitzed with cold filtered water, strained twice through a nut milk bag, and finished with two Medjool dates, a scrape of vanilla and a pinch of salt for body. No gums, no oils — just a two-step press that pulls every bit of cream out of the almonds. Makes about 1 quart and drinks beautifully cold, over ice, or warmed for coffee.

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw almonds (not roasted or salted)
• 1 tsp kosher salt, for the soaking water
• 3 1/2 cups cold filtered water, for blending

• 2 Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1 pinch fine sea salt
• 1 tsp maple syrup, optional, to taste

Instructions

1. Put the almonds in a bowl or jar, add 1 teaspoon kosher salt and enough cool water to cover by 2 inches. Cover and soak at room temperature 8 to 12 hours, or overnight. The salt seasons the nuts from the inside and softens them; they should swell noticeably and feel plump when pressed. Short on time? Cover the almonds with boiling water and soak 1 hour instead — the milk will be slightly less sweet but still excellent.
2. Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse thoroughly under cold running water for 20 to 30 seconds, rubbing them between your hands, until the water runs clear. Soaking water tastes bitter and tannic; do not blend with it. If you want a bright white, extra-smooth milk, pinch and slip off the skins now — with a long soak they come off easily, and 1 cup takes about 5 minutes.
3. Also soak the pitted dates in 1/2 cup hot tap water for 10 minutes while you rinse the almonds, then drain. This softens them so they blend without leaving flecks.
4. Combine the drained almonds and 3 1/2 cups cold filtered water in a blender. Start on low, then run on high for 90 seconds to 2 minutes, until the mixture looks like opaque, slightly frothy cream and no almond pieces larger than a coarse crumb remain. A standard blender needs the full 2 minutes; a high-speed blender gets there in about 60 to 75 seconds.
5. Set a nut milk bag or a double layer of fine cheesecloth over a large bowl or pitcher and pour in the blended mixture. Gather the top of the bag and squeeze firmly from the top down, working the pulp between your palms, until it stops dripping — 2 to 3 minutes of steady pressure. You want a nearly dry, crumbly puck of pulp; every squeeze is milk you'd otherwise throw away.
6. Return the pressed pulp to the blender with 1/2 cup cold filtered water and blend 30 seconds, then strain and squeeze a second time into the same bowl. This second press adds roughly 1/2 cup of milk and noticeably more body.
7. Rinse the blender jar, then add the strained milk, the softened dates, the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean (or the extract) and a pinch of fine sea salt. Blend on high for 45 seconds until fully smooth and slightly foamy. Taste, and blend in maple syrup 1 teaspoon at a time only if you want it sweeter.
8. Pour into a clean bottle or jar, seal, and chill at least 2 hours until very cold; the flavor rounds out and the milk thickens slightly as it sits. Shake hard before every pour — natural separation is normal and is a sign there are no gums in it. Serve cold over ice.

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Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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