Instant Almond Milk and Almond Truffles

Made with dark chocolate and homemade almond milk, these luscious vegan Almond Truffles are a chocolate lover’s dream. For the upcoming holiday weekend with Passover and Easter, I am sharing a new way to make instant almond milk and a new recipe for dairy-free almond truffles. I hope you will enjoy!

Instant Almond Milk

And boom, a new lightening-fast way to make almond milk with almost no pulp happened. In fact, depending on the proportion of almond flour to water, you will have made very good-tasting almond milk or one that is richer with a distinct taste of almond.

When I did my regular inventory of the freezer, I found a full bag of blanched almond flour and another of whole almond meal. Looking at them as they sat on the counter, my mind went to, “I wonder if I can use almond flour to make good almond milk?” It worked a charm! I have in the past tested making almond milk from almond butter, but I did not like the results.

Almond Milk Formulas

Formulas for this almond milk is about 1/4 cup for those of you who don’t use a scale but should.  The following formulas which I used make only 1 cup since I was testing. Double or triple freely.

1. Light milk: 1 ounce (27 grams) blanched almond flour to 3/4 cup water, pinch salt yield: 1 cup good tasting almond milk
2. Rich milk: 2 ounces (54 grams) blanched almond flour to 3/4 cup water, pinch salt yield: 1 cup rich almond milk

In both cases, I poured the water into my Vitamix first, added the almond flour, pinch of salt, and blended for about 1 minute. The resulting almond milk was white, tasted like almonds, and seemed not to be gritty.

After pouring the two kinds of milk into jars, I refrigerated them, and as I expected the milk separated. A good shake was all it took to get them creamy. A little taste confirmed the need to strain both. (The jars were filled to the top at 1 full cup, but I was sipping.)

As you can see, there is not much pulp, more in number 2 as expected. Number 2 tasted rich and reminded me of a good cashew milk-cream if cashews tasted like almonds. It might be obvious that you can taste test number 1 and add another 1/4 cup almond flour to the blender, to make it richer if you like.

Almond Truffles

It was time to make Almond Truffles. I started with my Cashew Cream Truffles recipe using the rich Almond Milk instead of Cashew Cream. I wanted to have a special truffle for Passover 2019, and my family likes almond-flavored everything. Note that cartons of almond milk do not taste of almond. This worked, and I made a few variations of truffles. After rolling the balls, and getting them very cold in the freezer, I cut them in half. That was my starting point. I believe it is important to have any hard inclusion such as a nut, showing to give people a heads up. I ground the almonds for coating my handy nut and seed grinder.

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Almond Truffles

Made with dark chocolate and homemade almond milk, these luscious vegan Almond Truffles are vegan chocolate lover’s dream. 

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword almond truffles, dairy-free truffles, dark chocolate truffles, vegan truffles

Yields 12 1-inch truffles or 24 halves, stuffed or not

Author Fran Costigan

Ingredients

• 4 ounces chocolate, 70-72% finely chopped
• 6 ounces rich almond milk
• pinch salt
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar option

Instructions

1. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the milk and salt to a low boil over medium heat, and the sugar if you are using it. I did not. Be careful not to overheat as the rich almond milk will begin to thicken in the way that cashew milks and creams do.
3. Immediately remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate all at once. Cover the bowl and allow the chocolate to melt for a few minutes. Uncover the bowl, and stir from the center out until the chocolate is completely melted.

Test

1. Put a teaspoon of the ganache into a little pinch bowl and refrigerate for 5 or so minutes to test for consistency. The chilled ganache should be firm, creamy, not hard. If not, add more melted chocolate or more milk to adjust.
2. Allow the ganache to set at room temperature about 15 minutes and move the bowl to the refrigerator. The ganache should be firm enough to shape in 2-3 hours. Like any ganache, it will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, and may be frozen for up to 1 month.

Form the Truffles

1. Make rounds using a ½-ounce ice cream scoop or just use a spoon.
2. When all of the truffles are made, freeze about 20 minutes, or longer.
3. Cut the truffles in half, with a sharp knife.
4. Stuff each half with a half a whole roasted almond or a slivered almond.

Finish the Truffles

1. Roll in finely chopped whole almond flour or chopped almonds: easy to make in my indispensable nut and seeds grinder. If you are making the truffles in advance and freezing them, the truffles will be very hard. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

Other ways to finish the truffles:

• Place the truffles close together, cut side up on a parchment lined sheet pan.
• Drizzle with melted chocolate.
• Dip in melted chocolate and sprinkle with fine almond flour

I found these almond truffles delightful, but as the almond milk was completely unsweetened, the truffles taste very dark. Use sugar in the milk or dust the truffles with sifted confectioners sugar before serving. Again, when you are serving food with a hard filing, ie: the almonds here, the inclusion must show.

Now I have a new fast way to make almond milk that tastes of almonds and a new truffle for Passover (although these are perfect for Easter, too) to serve in my Grandma Ida’s footed candy dish. I’d love to hear about your desserts, whether Passover or Easter. What are you making this year?