Maple Cinnamon Pecan Milk

Amber Shea Crawley describes this raw vegan pecan milk as “smooth, silky, luxurious—this stuff’s liquid velvet.” It is rich, creamy, and thick in texture making it more like a thin milkshake than a liquidy nut milk. The flavors of pecan, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon go so perfectly well together. Amber jokes that those flavors are a “polygamous marriage made in heaven”. This recipe was adapted from a recipe in Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis’ book Raw Food/Real World, and it’s fantastic!

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw pecans
• 3 3/4 cups water
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of sea salt

Instruction

1) Soak the pecans in a bowl of filtered water for 4-8 hours, or overnight.
2) Drain and rinse the pecans well and place them in a high-speed blender with 3 3/4 cups of cold filtered water.
3) Cover and blend on high for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Pour the milk through a nut milk bag into a pitcher or large bowl.
4) Strain the milk through the bag, squeezing and twisting and wringing to extract as much as possible. Transfer the nut meat from the bag to a small container and refrigerate for later use (add it to other goodies like oatmeal, smoothies, cookie dough, and so on).
5) Pour the milk back into the (rinsed) blender and add the maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sea salt (and, if you want to be really indulgent, a spoonful of coconut oil!). Cover and blend to combine. Taste for sweetness, adding more maple syrup if desired, then pour into a pitcher or other container for storage.