Almond Milk and Raw Almond-Coconut Macaroons

I have been making a lot of almond milk lately, and have been stocking up on almond pulp in the freezer in order to make myself a delicious birthday cake next week. However, I have way too much pulp for just one cake (poor me!), so I did a little adaptation on a recipe I found at gliving.com:


Coconut-Almond Macaroons

1 cup almond pulp 1 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 2 TB agave or maple syrup 2 TB maple sugar 2 TB coconut butter/oil, melted 1 TB vanilla extract a few dash of ground cinnamon pinch of sea salt extra coconut flakes for top of cookies

I used 4 tbsp agave in place of the 2tbsp agave/maple syrup + 2 tbsp maple sugar, and also added 3 tbsp of raw almond butter when the batter seemed too crumbly. I would actually up the almond butter to 4 or 5 tbsp next time as I like the flavour and texture that it gives to these cookies.

Mix the ingredients together by hand and form into small round cookies on a teflex sheet on a dehydrator tray. Sprinkle extra coconut on top and flatten down cookies into 1/4 inch thick circles. Dehydrate on high for 1 hour, then turn down to 115 and continue dehydrating for 3-4 hours. Flip over and dry to desired moistness (the drier they are, the longer they keep!). If you do these in the oven, turn it down to the lowest setting and bake with the door propped open. Check frequently, they will be done much more quickly than in the dehydrator.

Makes about 16 cookies, depending on what size you make them. 

Even though the dehydrator is in the back porch, the entire house smelled of delicious vanilla and coconut overnight as these baked...sweet dreams, indeed!

As for the milk itself, I have varied my proportions and ingredients in a series of experiments until I have come up with what I personally find to be the most delicious of almond milks...it's a bit different than my original Almond Milk post...

Almond Milk
1 cup raw whole almonds, soaked 6 hours - overnight
5 1/2 cups filtered water
3 medjool dates
2 tbsp vanilla extract
dash of pink salt

Blend everything together on high for about a minute. I find that in order to avoid a big mess, I need to blend with only 2 or 3 cups of water, and place the rest of the water in a large bowl or jug. I then add the blended mixture to the water before pouring everything through my nut milk bag and squeezing to separate the pulp from the milk. This makes one large and one small Mason Jar's worth of milk, and keeps about 4 to 5 days, which makes it just the right amount for our needs here...as soon as I am running low I just throw some more almonds in to soak for the next batch. (don't worry if it looks separated, just shake it up before using). I have made this with up to 8 cups of water at once - it makes a thinner milk which I found good for drinking and cereal but not as nice for putting in tea and coffee. Experiment until you find the consistency you like!

Having the nut milk bag is super handy, because of the extra fine mesh and the drawstring which helps from having any spills. It makes this process a lot easier...they are cheap and you can get them at lots of places, mines is from upayanaturals.com. However, if you don't have one, a clean piece of cheesecloth or a finely woven dishtowel can sub in just fine.

Why make your own almond milk? Well, if you use raw almonds, you can have raw milk (all supermarket almond milk is pasteurized), and you therefore get more of the nutrients and enzymes that almonds have to offer. Secondly, it is cheaper than buying a similar quantity of almond milk at the store, especially if you buy your almonds in bulk and store in the freezer...thirdly, there are less added ingredients in homemade almond milk (like lecithin, carrageenan and tapioca starch). Fourthly, there is the beautiful, versatile by-product, almond pulp, which can be used in all manner of raw (and cooked!) recipes, like the one above. Lighter than almond meal, it keeps well in the freezer until you need it...and you can collect and use the meal from other nuts (brazils are my favourite!) or even from coconut when making fresh coconut milk...

Have I convinced you yet? Give it a try - it's really very easy!