Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups water
- 5 pitted dates (optional)
Method
- Soak raw almonds and dates in water overnight (covering completely, at least 6 hours). Drain in the morning.
- Add the soaked almonds and dates to blender together with 4 cups of water and blend until smooth.
- Strain the mixture with a cheesecloth/nut milk bag into a jar and it’s ready!
* For a quick soak method, soak in boiling water for an hour, covered.
** Store in the refrigerator for several days and make sure you shake before you use it.
*** Keep the almond meal to make an AMAZING tea time cake!
I was constantly looking for something to do with the leftover meal because I didn’t want to toss it every time. Some people recommend using it for breakfast bowls or mix it in yoghurt, but I never really thought about baking because I thought you had to remove all the humidity by cooking in the oven (long process). I found an amazing recipe online which I adapted for those of us who do lots of almond milk and want to use the leftover meal straight away, no drying, no waiting. Makes you want to make homemade almond milk even more often, in a useful and delicious way!
The beauty of this cake is that since the leftover almond meal is quite chunky, you get a lot of almond bits in this amazingly moist and lemony cake. So far, it’s been a hit with everyone that’s tried it, so I promise it delivers! Hopefully you’ll get excited about this and will want to make your tea lattes with almond milk just like me!
*Just a quick recommendation: the difference of lemon zest obtained with a regular grater versus a zester is HUGE because with a grater you get the colored part of the lemon (tangy) plus parts of the white skin which is bitter, while the zester only grabs the colored part of the fruit. I got mine too late in life but I will use it forever! See my recommended zester below.
- 2 1/2 cups almond meal (see note below)
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 9 oz ricotta
- 1/4 cup lemon zest
- 1 tbsp vanilla paste (or extract)
- Icing sugar for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 9″ round pan (or any cake pan).
- Mix the butter and 1 cup sugar together with a mixer until fluffy. Add the lemon zest and vanilla, and mix until combined.
- Add the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing completely after each one. Next, add the ricotta and mix until smooth.
- Add the almond meal, and mix again until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form.
- In batches, fold the egg whites into the almond ricotta batter until completely incorporated.
- Pour the mixture into the buttered pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes clean and the center is set.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan.
- - I get aprox. 2 cups of almond meal from straining the milk, but this may vary. Complete with almond flour until you have 2 1/2 cups total.
- - Since it is a moist cake, I recommend storing it in the fridge.
- - Dust with icing sugar using a sifter right before serving.
What do you do with your strained almond meal? Any other ideas? I’d love to hear, leave a comment !
What a natural, efficient, and delicious idea to use the almonds this way! Can’t wait to try. When you make the milk, do you let the almonds sit overnight in the 4 cups of water and then blend? Or, do you strain the almonds from the overnight water and then add 4 c. of fresh water?
Yes Traci! I put enough water to cover the almonds overnight and strain it in the morning. Then add the 4 cups of fresh water to blend.
Thanks, Daniela. Going to put lots of almonds on my grocery list to give this a try. 🙂