Over the nearly four years that my blog has existed I have repeatedly shared my dislike of cow milk. (I do still use it for cooking and baking purposes as well as in my morning coffee.) I have also shared my favorite non-dairy milk alternatives that I like to drink and prepare myself. I love both my homemade soy and almond milks, but I also like to experiment with new “milking” ingredients. Today I want to share with you this homemade hazelnut milk recipe.
The process for hazelnut milk is the same as soy, almond or any other nut based milks. You soak the nuts, blend, strain, and sometimes boil or simply serve after straining. The other similarity is that making your own homemade non-dairy milks is not only healthier but also less expensive. When we make a batch we can control the quality of the ingredients and omit those awful additives that our bodies don’t need. Just pick up a package and read the ingredients, some brands add oils or starch — blah! You could also look at this as a fun experiment to try at least once.
Before we get to the “recipe” I want to give you a couple of tips I have discovered in making my own hazelnut milk.
– Always taste the hazelnuts to make sure they are not stale — this effects the taste, obviously.
– Hazelnuts are difficult to blanch so ones with skin on can be used. I’ve tried it both ways.
– Don’t boil homemade hazelnut milk, it curdles. I boil my almond milk to prevent it from separating but it just doesn’t work with hazelnuts.
– If using in coffee or tea, pour the prepared coffee/tea into the hazelnut milk. It won’t curdle.
- 100 g or 3.5 ounces hazelnuts
- 2 cups or 500 ml water
- natural sweetener of choice (like sugar, maple syrup, dates etc.)
- 1 large pot or bowl
- muslin or cheese cloth or a clean kitchen towel
- blender
- Place the hazelnuts in a large container, fill with water and leave to soak overnight.
- Drain the water, rinse, and place the hazelnuts in a blender. If using a sweetener add it now. Pour the water into blender, blend until hazelnuts have completely broken down. Place muslin/cheese cloth over a colander and place onto of large bowl. Pour the liquid over the cloth, then pull up on all ends to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Serve straight away or store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use. It will keep fresh for 5 days. The milk might separate a bit while it sits, just give it a quick stir or shake and it's ready.
The taste, much like almond milk, is a lightly creamy and hazelnutty flavour. I have yet to bake or cook with this but I do love it in my coffee, tea and to simply enjoy on it’s one.
Don’t throw out the leftover ground up hazelnut , tomorrow I will share a savory recipe to use it in. Enjoy!
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I’ve never made milk at home and this would be very interesting to try. Thanks for the inspiration.
You should give it a try sometime Lail. Thanks!
Delicious and healthy! A wonderful drink.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thanks Rosa!
Mmmm… I bet this milk was amazing.
It was;)
i’ve never made my own nut milk but I do drink almond milk constantly! Have to try to make this!
You should Joanne, it’s so easy. Thanks!
I’ve never thought to make hazelnut milk. Great idea!
Thanks!
Wonderful hazelnut milk.
Thank you Jen!
I love making my own milks at home, TRUE!
Never made hazelnut milk, but will come in very handy in future cooking and baking! Thank you!
Based on my food lifestyle, I use Xylitol (sugarless sugar…natural)…
Cheers!
Joanne
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Thanks Joanne! Enjoy your homemade hazelnut milk:)
I love hazelnuts! Making your own milk is a fantastic use for them… I’d love to bake with this milk! :)
Thanks Laura! I haven’t baked with it yet, but I bet it would add a lovely flavour.
Thank you so much for sharing this! Although i LOVE milk (bit of an obessions with it to be honest!), I have recently been experimenting with other milk in order to cut down on my milk consumption. Almond milk in my coffee/tea is actaully really good! I think I can be converted ;)
It’s difficult going back to plain milk afterwards. Thanks Alex!
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever tried hazelnut milk. :O I bet this is something that I’m missing out a big time! Morning cereal could be a lot more fun with this milk.
Morning cereal and granola are great with hazelnut and almond milk too.:)
Hazelnut milk sounds devine. Ive only ever made almond but can’t wait to try this out :)
In that case you’ll also love making hazelnut milk. Thanks and enjoy!
Hi I have never made milk before but this sounds great for my coffee. You state that you soak the nuts overnight in water then drain. So I”m assuming the water amount you have listed in the ingrediants is the water you add to the blender not the water that you drained. Correct? Sorry just want to make sure I make it right. Thanks for this recipe.
Yes, that is correct Myrna. The water called for in the recipe is to blend the nuts after they’ve soaked overnight. Feel free to adjust the water amount depending on how thick or watery you’d like the nut milk. Enjoy!:)
Hello,
brilliantly simple and clear recipe, thank you muchly! :)
As for baking with it, I can tell you that both waffles and crepes are amazing with it. My kids haven’t even notice the swap when doing waffles and have commented saying they were better than usual.
Hugs,
Eric.
Waffles: mix 250g flour, 50g sugar, 2 egg yolk, 50g melted butter and 500ml liquids (usually I use 250ml milk and 250ml water, but you can do all milk – softer waffles – beer instead of water – very flavoursome… or just try out stuff.) . Then beat the 2 egg whites to fairly stiff and fold in the rest.
Cook in a square waffle iron as normal.
Hi Eric,
I would love to try your waffles with the hazelnut milk. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!:)
Hi, I haven’t read all the comments, so someone else might have asked this before, in which case I apologize for the redundancy, but I noticed you didn’t mention skinning the hazelnuts. Is it ok to do the milk with the skins on? And if I decide to skin them before, will it affect the milk in any way? Thanks
Hi Anne,
I did not remove the skin from the hazelnuts, but it is perfectly fine to do so. If you skin them perhaps it will prevent the milk from separating. I haven’t noticed a big difference between the two options. Enjoy!
Thank you! It is the first time I have made it and your recipe served to check that I had made it properly.
Best,
If you look at the ingredients on the nut milk boxes, they use roasted nuts. You however do not roast your hazelnuts before soaking them. Have you used roasted nuts for the milk and if so, how did you roast them and did you notice a taste difference?
Hi Rachel,
No I hadn’t noticed that, good to know. Also I have not roasted the hazelnuts before milking them. It sounds interesting and definately worth a try.
How long will hazelnut milk keep in the refridgerator?
Five days in the refrigerator — it’s the second to the last sentence in instruction #2. Enjoy Suzie!
Thanks! Great recipe
sotre nought hazelnut flour says its blanched and some say its unblanched.homemade pulp flour reacts and taste the same as store bought?can i blanch them or roast them to take the skins off and then soak them to make milk and flour?or to have a better result like store bought flour i must grind them whole?does it matter if skins are not peeled?
Hi Demi! I have never used store bough hazelnut flour to make the milk. I really can’t tell you how it would turn out since I’ve never tried it myself. However, I do suggest to begin with the actual hazelnuts. Yes, you could blanch them to remove the skin. Leaving the skin may result in a different taste and composition of the milk and flour.