Ok. I confess, I am a closet food snob. This may not be a new confession (I think I may have owned up to this once before), but I am once again openly confessing my little secret. Not only am I a food snob, I have also successfully turned the permanent members of my house; aka my husband and sisters, to food snubs as well. One of the things my husband and I tend to turn our noses up to is store bought nut milks. Ever since I discovered that I can make my own nut milk that tastes ten times better than anything bought in the store, I have not bought any boxed or bottled nut milk products sold in grocery stores. I decided to push my snobbery a little further and attempt my own homemade hazelnut almond milk drink with raw chocolate or cacao nibs. Once I realized how good homemade almond milk tasted, I figured a nut milk combination of almond and hazelnut would taste even better. Let me tell you the story of how this hazelnut almond milk recipe was born.
Some time ago, while my husband and I strolled through the isles of one of our local grocery stores, making snarky comments about “all these processed foods that would never cross our lips” (smh, don’t judge us please, we sometimes like to channel our inner hippie), we saw a shelf of shelf-stable chocolate almond milk. Honestly, the first thing that came to my mind was how I needed to grab that, when my hippie conscience emerged: “eww, why is that shelf stable?” After I read the ingredients list, I turned to my husband with the bold claim: “I bet I can make this… better of course”… (like I said don’t judge me). That day, my adventure with fancy nut milks began.
Now that my confession session is out of the way, let me tell you a little more about this hazelnut almond milk recipe. I decided, like I mentioned earlier, that I didn’t just want to make an almond nut milk, but a ‘nutella’ inspired chocolate milk. Yes you heard that right… NUTELLA! Truth be told, I am not really in love with nutella like that, because I believe that it is just liquid candy, but people seem to get extra excited when that word is thrown into any recipe. The real nutella inspiration in this recipe was the hazelnuts, (which we can never get too much of). Hazelnuts and almonds go hand in hand like peanut butter and apples (odd simile, I know…) but I did not know it would be this much of a hit.
I have a Costco membership, and I find that it is the best place to get nuts in bulk for a reasonable price. Aldi and Trader Joe’s are the next best choice for good quality nuts at an affordable price. In general, I encourage anyone I know to get into making their own nut milks, they taste so much better, probably contain significantly more nuts than store bought nut milks, and do not contain any fillers or emulsifiers that you cannot pronounce. Picking your nuts up from a bulk store like Costco or Sam’s Club here in the U.S. also helps shave down the cost of making your own nut milk significantly.
Let me know if your tried my homemade hazelnut almond milk with chocolate recipe and how it turned out! Also, check out how I make Homemade Coconut Milk from Scratch if you like to get more into making your own nut milks. Enjoy my recipe!
Homemade Hazelnut Almond Milk with Raw Chocolate Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup hazelnuts
- ½ cup almonds
- 2 tbsp cacao nibs/ cocoa powder
- 10 pitted dates
- ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
- Soak the almonds and hazelnuts in cool filtered water. The water should be enough to cover the nuts so they are immersed.
- Let them soak between 12- 24 hours. Preferably in the fridge.
- Once the nuts have soaked for at least 12 hours, they would have absorbed the water and gotten a little plump. At this stage, drain the nuts and rinse them lightly under cool water.
- Put the soaked nuts in a blender with the cacao nibs or cacao powder, 10 pitted dates, salt and 4 cups of filtered water.
- Blend the nuts until they have completely broken down.
- In a fine mesh strainer draped with a cheese cloth, with a nut milk bag, or with a clean straining cloth, drain the blended nut milk to separate the nut pulp from the nut milk.
- Be sure to squeeze the cheese cloth, nut milk bag, or straining cloth to get as much milk out of the nuts as possible.
Notes
- Cacao is raw unprocessed chocolate and can be replaced with cocoa powder.
- If you are using cacao, your chocolate milk might look paler than if using cocoa powder. Do not be alarmed and add more cacao to your chocolate milk. It will only make it more bitter. 2 tablespoons of cacao nibs is quite the chocolaty hit, it just doesn't get quite as brown because it is unprocessed
31 Comments
Precious
September 26, 2017 at 11:13 amThanks for the tip on buying nuts from Cotsco. I don’t have a Cotsco membership yet but I’ve been highly considering getting one. Also I LOVE Aldi. The milk looks so perfect. After seeing some stuff online about boxed nut milks I resolved to start making mine. Thanks for sharing this.
Lois
September 26, 2017 at 12:04 pmA Costco membership is well worth it honestly, hurry and get one before the Christmas because that is when all the best baking supplies go on sale, especially the nuts and butter.
lola
September 28, 2017 at 1:09 pmI have a costco membership so I think i am going to give this a try!!! It looks easy enough and not too many ingredients cause my mind goes foggy when i see more than 10 items to buy lolllll. Thanks for this!
Lois
September 28, 2017 at 2:10 pmHi Lola! I wish I could relate to getting foggy with multiple ingredients, but sometimes that revs me up… lol! But I get it! This is one of those easy ones thankfully. I don’t think costco has hazelnuts, but you can Trader joes and Wegmans certainly does.
Carrie
September 29, 2017 at 1:16 pmThis is wonderful! I have a family member who has decided to choose a more natural lifestyle and is becoming vegetarian and this is something he would love! I am will add this to my shopping list and make up a batch for him to try out.
Lois
September 30, 2017 at 8:02 amAwesome! I am sure he will enjoy it
Tina
September 29, 2017 at 7:15 pmI never thought to make my own nut milk, this looks easy AND amazing! Thanks for sharing:) Must try this.
Lois
September 30, 2017 at 8:06 amTrust me, once you make your own nut milk, you will not go back to buying store bought. And you can get a little more creative when you make it yourself.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
September 30, 2017 at 7:25 amIt sounds delicious. And from one snob to another — I can’t believe what is on the shelf. Take pasta. It should be semolina and water, sometimes egg. Have you read the ingredients?? Lordy, it is so long. Homemade is better, that’s for sure. I haven’t tried making my own nut milk but I’ll have a go at it. I love hazelnuts!! And Nutella? I’m sorry it may be garbage but it is a fantastic tasting garbage. It a weakness.
Lois
September 30, 2017 at 8:46 amLol @ fantastic tasting garbage. My favorite garbage is boxed mac and cheese, I hate to admit it, but it is honestly fantastic garbage like you said.
Christine
September 30, 2017 at 4:33 pmThis sounds SO delicious! Love that it’s Nutella inspired. Also love your photos, so beautiful!
Lois. O
October 1, 2017 at 9:28 pmThanks Christine!
The Urban Herb Lady
November 3, 2017 at 7:54 pmAre you Vegan Lois!!! Thank you for the Yummy recipes from The Motherland…and Vegan Too!!!
Woo Hooooo!!!
Lois
November 7, 2017 at 4:39 pmHi Herb Lady (hope it is OK to call you that). I am not vegan, but I have days where I eat completely plant based, and that is honestly when I get most creative with my recipes honestly.
Carol Borchardt
September 30, 2017 at 5:24 pmYou had me at Nutella! I love nut milks but never made them myself. This recipe is inspiring me to try it! Getting the nuts at a wholesale club is definitely the way to go.
Lois. O
October 1, 2017 at 9:29 pmNut milk for the win!
Deborah
September 30, 2017 at 7:16 pmThis looks absolutely delicious! I am Vegan after many years of being Vegetarian. One of the biggest reasons I hesitated to make the switch was because I loved milk so much (I could drink a gallon a day) and I could not find a plant-based substitute that I could stomach. I only maybe in the past year or two have come to love almond milk almost as much as I liked milk. And I absolutely LOVE chocolate almond milk. But I will definitely be trying this recipe real soon! Love all your vegan recipes too!
Lois. O
October 1, 2017 at 9:33 pmThanks Deborah! I know exactly what you mean about the substituting dairy milk. I don’t drink dairy milk very much, but I have really grown to love almond milk. I have heard that another good substitute for dairy milk sometimes is macadamia nut milk (even though it is wickedly expensive).
Cheryl
October 1, 2017 at 12:21 pmThis truly looks like a worthwhile labor of love. Can you save me a glass until I’m ready to make it myself?
Lois. O
October 1, 2017 at 9:35 pmLol!! You are welcome to some if the ravenous people in my house can leave any leftovers
Karyl | Karyl's Kulinary Krusade
October 1, 2017 at 9:29 pmOkay, I had no clue it was so easy to make your own nut milk! I use almond milk for my morning smoothies. I might need to try my hand at making the milk and see what happens. We have Sprouts Farmers Market in my town and they have great prices on bulk nuts, so I’ll have to check it out
Lois
October 2, 2017 at 9:21 pmHonestly once you make your own almond milk you won’t go back to store bought. It makes a world of difference
Natalie
October 2, 2017 at 2:40 pmOh I’m soooo making this. I also make my own nut milks but t never crossed my mind to make half almond- half hazelnuts + cocoa milk. I bet this tastes PERFECT!
Lois
October 2, 2017 at 9:15 pmHi Natalie! The almonds make it a little milder because just hazelnuts tend to have an over powering taste. It actually tastes like an adult beverage if you “squint” your taste buds.
Claire @ The Simple, Sweet Life
October 3, 2017 at 12:02 amI always wondered how nut milk is made! I’m DEFINITELY going to have to give this a whirl!
Lois
October 3, 2017 at 10:15 amI am sure you will enjoy it Claire!
Erin @ The Speckled Palate
October 3, 2017 at 8:49 pmLike you, I’m a food snob, too, though I’ve never made my own nutmilk. Clearly, that’s changing, and I’m making this goodness immediately!
Lois. O
October 3, 2017 at 9:58 pmFrom one food snob to another… Cheers!
The Urban Herb Lady
November 3, 2017 at 7:57 pmI will try these yummy recipes! Thanks for providing recipes from the Motherland!!!! and Vegan some of them!!! lol
Cheers!!
Lois
November 7, 2017 at 4:40 pmI am glad you enjoy them. A lot of the recipes I share are also easy to veganize.
jitendra
December 19, 2017 at 4:00 amnice article keep on blogging…