Almond Milk and Cookies

Although you can buy almond milk here in Dawson, it's the sweetened kind (which I avoid), and it's expensive. I decided to get back in the habit of making my own as a result. When you make almond milk, you also end up making almond pulp...and that got me to thinking about what I could do to use it. Naturally, my first thought was: cookies. To go with my milk. Yumm.

(RAW) Almond Milk:
1 cup almonds, soaked at least 8 hours or overnight
3 cups water
pinch of salt

Drain and rinse the almonds, and then remove their skins, which should be loosened from the soaking. Put the skinned almonds in a blender with the water and salt, and blend for at least a minute, till creamy.

Then, get a clean, fine-weave tea towel or several layers of cheesecloth, and lay over the top of a large bowl. Pour some of the milk into the towel, pick up the edges, and squeeze the milk through the towel into the bowl. Squeeze thoroughly, then dump the leftover pulp inside the towel into a second bowl. Repeat this process till you have one bowl of milk and and one of pulp. Store milk in fridge and drink within 1-3 days. Makes about 3 cups of milk. Store almond pulp in fridge or freezer till you use it.

* if you like a sweeter milk you can also add a little agave syrup or maple syrup to it, but I like mine plain.


AND with the leftover pulp from making your milk:

(RAW) Chocolate-Raisin Cookies:
pulp from one batch of almond milk (about 1 cup of pulp)
4 tbsp agave syrup
2 tbsp almond butter
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla powder or vanilla extract
3 tbsp cacao powder
a large handful of raisins

Mix together everything but the raisins into a smooth dough. Add raisins, and form into 12 balls. Flatten into cookie shapes with your fingers, and dehydrate in a dehydrator or in the oven on low with the door wedged open (what I did) for several hours, till crispy on the edges. Makes 12.