Hazelnut Milk

We were talking about non-dairy milks at dinner last night, and hazelnut milk came up.  I don't know how I never thought of making this before!  I made three small batches today to test different proportions and additions, and loved the recipe below.  Toasting it really brings out a different flavor, which felt richer to me.  I also added a small bit of chocolate to one batch and it tasted like a Nutella drink.  You can also add sugar if you want, but I prefer it unsweetened.  However, the recipe below is more versatile, so I'm posting the plain version.

Ingredients

1 cup hazelnuts, skin removed

3 cups water

pinch sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla paste (vanilla extract is also okay)

Directions

1.  Heat the oven to 350 F.  Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake until they are a very light brown and the nutty smell comes out.

2.  Transfer the hazelnuts to a bowl and cover them with water so all the nuts are submerged.  Soak for at least 6 hours- overnight is best.

3.  Drain the hazelnuts.  Place them in a blender with water.  Blend until it looks uniform and frothy.

4.  Place a cheese cloth or mesh bag inside a large bowl- make sure the edges hang over the sides of the bowl so you can gather them up.  Pour the hazelnut milk into the cheese cloth/mesh bag that is lining the bowl.  Gather the cheese cloth/mesh bag and squeeze out as much of the milk as possible.  Save the pulp, you can easily mix it in to cereal, yogurt, smoothies, cookies, etc.

5.  Mix in the salt and vanilla.  Pour into glass bottle and store in fridge up to 5 days.