Cream it - 101

When I went vegan I also decided to get rid of the caffeine in my life. That was hard because I love gadgets and I had a coffee bar full of gadgets. I put them all away. I made Roma my new hot drink - and I was ok with that but I missed my cream and especially my Nespresso Frother. I worked diligently trying to find or create a creamer I liked. There are vegan creamers out there but they are full or sugar which I didn't want in my diet. I tried making creams out of almonds, cashews, macadamia, pecans and more.

I finally figured on the perfect recipe for me. I put it in my Nespresso Frother and it ended up scalding. Back to the drawing board. The cream isn't so much of a difficult recipe to make - but to make it work in my frother was the issue. So this is finally what worked for me.

Almond Cashew Cream

1 ½ cup Filtered Water

1 cup soaked almonds

½ cup soaked cashews

1 tablespoon maple syrup (or light agave)

¼ teaspoon vanilla (optional)

1. Use a milk bag strainer to strain the nut milk. I personally prefer the cheesecloth. Fold a large cheesecloth in half so that is doubled or tripled to strain the milk.

2. Use a glass bowl or pitcher to strain the milk into. Dampen the cheesecloth. This will help it to cling to the vessel as you pour the milk into it.

3. Make sure the cheesecloth goes over the edges of the bowl. Make a slight indent in the center of the cheesecloth where the milk will be poured. Set aside.

4. Place water, soaked almonds, soaked cashews into a high-speed blender and blend until completely smooth.

5. Carefully pour the milk into the cheesecloth covered bowl/pitcher making sure to watch that the edges of the cheesecloth do not slip into the bowl.

6. Once the milk has been poured into the bowl you will notice most of the milk is still in the cheesecloth. Carefully lift the edges of the cheesecloth and bring them together. Twist the edges of the cheesecloth together at the top to keep in the milk and pulp.

7. With one hand holding the top of the cheesecloth use the other hand to squeeze the bottom lightly causing the milk to strain into the bowl. Continue to squeeze and release until all the milk is in the bowl. You will have the pulp left in the cheesecloth. This can be discarded unless you want to save it to bake something extra delicious. It freezes well until you have decided what you would like to create.

8. Add the maple syrup or agave to the milk and stir. Depending on your taste you may want to adjust more or less sweetener.

9. Enjoy -

OPTIONS: You can add vanilla or another kind of flavoring to this cream.

WHY I DID WHAT I DID: You can froth the cream which works wonderfully. I have a $5 hand frother and an more expensive electric frother. They both work but my electric frother also heats up the milk. The reason I use more almonds than cashews is because the cashew cream is a thicker consistency and it scalds in my electric frother. The cashews definitely make a creamier texture and I didn't want to lose that creamy goodness so I decided to use a mixture of both nuts. 1 part cashews to 2 parts almonds works perfect in my frother and for my taste. Once you get comfortable with making nut milk you can also play until you make what works for you. You can purchase ready-made nut milks and combine them but I personally don’t think they taste as creamy. Commercial milks usually use more water and there there are very few nuts used - plus they use preservatives or other ingredients to thicken that change the taste.

You can also purchase nut milk bags which might work easier for you. I personally use cheesecloth because it's easier for me to clean. I don't like all the pulp getting into the seams of the nut bag. I am in the process of designing a nut bag I like. I will see if it work.