Nut milk & Nut truffles

What is love? For me it’s teaching your children how to take good care of themselves and show them how to cook with attention and passion. So this weekend I’ll spend some time in the kitchen with my two daughters to make wonderful healthy things based on nut milk: chocolate truffles (made with the leftover nut pulp of nut milk) and smoothies. If that ain’t love! Today we’ll share the recipe for raw almond cashew milk, tomorrow we’ll post delicious sunshine smoothies with mango, ginger, and turmeric.

The first time I tried fresh almond milk was at Whole Foods in DC (please, why can’t we have this store in the Netherlands??!!). It was made on the spot and the customers were allowed to taste it. A revelation! I bought a very expensive small bottle of the stuff and when it was finished I thought: “I can just as well make this myself.”

You can make nut milk from any kind of nut, you can even add sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I tried a couple of combinations and for me a mixture of almonds and cashews works best. The cashews make the milk extra rich and creamy.

Making your own nut milk is an easy job. The only con is its shelf life: it can become rancid in a couple of days. I’ve had this several times, so I started to make smaller batches. Also, I make sure every item that comes into contact with the milk is very clean and I use sterilized bottles for storing. Obviously, the quality of the nuts is also important: do nut use nuts that taste rancid or bitter. Oh, and don’t throw away the nut pulp after preparing the milk, it makes for delicious chocolate truffles (see recipe below).

ALMOND CASHEW MILK
Makes approx. 3 cups/750 ml
Action Time: 15 minutes + soaking

2.5 oz/75 g raw almonds
2.5 oz/75 g raw cashews
a pinch of salt
3 1/8 cups/ 800 ml filtered water

Extra: blender, sterilized bottle, strainer, cheese cloth

1. Put the nuts with the salt in a bowl and add the water. Cover and let the nuts soak in the fridge for at least 4 hours (but you can also soak them overnight).

2. Purée nuts and the soaking liquid in a blender for a couple of minutes until very smooth.

3. Line a strainer with cheese cloth and place over a bowl. Pour the nut mixture into the strainer. Gather the cheese cloth and squeeze the milk out, use some effort to squeeze out as much milk as possible (see picture with daughter Flo). Pour the milk in a clean bottle and store immediately in the fridge for 3-4 days (or drink it). Save the pulp for making truffles (see recipe below).

Note: I don’t like to sweeten my milk, but feel free to add some maple syrup or honey. You can also add a few drops of vanilla extract.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Makes 18-20 truffles
Action Time: 15-20 minutes

I like to add orange zest, but you can add ½ tsp cinnamon or vanilla extract instead.

1 portion of nut pulp, about 6 oz/175 g (see recipe nut milk above)
2 tbsp (raw) almond butter
10-12 dates, pitted and chopped
2 tbsp (raw) cocoa
finely grated zest of 1 small organic orange

For the coating:
desiccated coconut, cocoa, finely grated dark chocolate, cinnamon, chopped nuts, or hemp seeds

Extra: food processor

1. Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until they turn into a paste; taste the paste and add 1-2 more dates if you want it to be a bit sweeter.

2. Take small amounts of the mixture and roll them into 18-20 small balls. Coat the truffles with anything of your liking: toss it in coconut, cocoa, grated chocolate, cinnamon, chopped nuts or hemp seeds. Store in a container in the fridge.