Raspberry, Blueberry and Chocolate oat milk
Hope everyone has had a super summer and ready to get back to work or school or whatever it is you took a break from! No?! Oh, well, maybe these tasty and colorful, flavored oat milks – raspberry, blueberry and chocolate – can help!
I’ve been taking it easy this summer and not posting a whole lot of recipes, but now I’m ready to get down to business again! My first recipe, just over 6 months ago, was for my favorite homemade plant milk, using a great mix of oats and just a few almonds. Now, I thought I’d expand on that recipe, for this “back to school special”!
As a kid, I loved Quik – mostly the strawberry one! But 1) I don’t even want to know what’s in that stuff, and 2) Nestle doesn’t have the best reputation. So, for big kids and small kids everywhere, I thought I’d share with you how I make my three favorite kinds of naturally flavored oat milk! As you can see in the photos, you can flavor your drinks either with fruit, or with organic, 100% fruit powders or why not a little of each! Oh and cacao powder of course – can’t forget chocolate milk now, can we?
But I’m getting ahead of myself here – let me quickly tell you about the plant milk itself. This is basically the same recipe that I first posted here, apart from with the chocolate milk, which I sweetened with caramel agave syrup. The original post has some photos and info that might be helpful if you’ve never made your own plant milk before, so check it out. Basically, I love oat milk! It’s cheap, good for you, and I personally love the taste, which works perfectly in muesli and other breakfast cereals. And once you start adding fruit, the flavor becomes even more subtle.
So, back to the fruits and flavors! Previously, I’d only ever used fresh fruit in my flavored milk, but this time I also tried using freeze dried, organic, 100% natural fruit powders. And you know what? They might be even better! These powders aren’t cheap, but they keep well and are very concentrated. And when your favorite fruit isn’t in season, these organic powders are definitely better than frozen fruit, in my opinion. I suggest starting with around 1 Tbsp (15 ml) of powder and then adding more until you reach the strength/flavor that’s best for you!
So try out these raspberry, blueberry and chocolate oat milks today – delicious flavors guaranteed to please kids of all ages!
Ingredients
-
Flavored plant milk base
- 1Cups (2.4 dl) - Organic oats
- ¼ Cup (.6 dl) - Organic almonds
- 4 - 4½ Cups (10 - 11 dl) water
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) - Maple syrup, or other liquid sweetener such as agave syrup
- 1 tsp (5ml) - vanilla extract (or roughly ½ tsp vanilla powder)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 3½ oz (100 g) - raspberries, blueberries, etc. OR
- approx. 1 Tbsp (15 ml) - organic fruit powder OR
- approx. 3 Tbsp (45 ml) - organic cacao
Instructions
- Put the oats and almonds in a bowl, cover with water, and soak for about 8 hours.
- Pour the oats/almonds through a sieve and rinse rinse rinse. Trust me here, rinse some more.
- Put the soaked oats/almonds in a high-powered blender and add 4+ cups of water. Blend on high speed for 1-2 minutes. (4 cups is the same as one liter - I add just a little more than this since you lose just a little liquid in the process.
- Place a nut milk bag (or cheesecloth or a very fine sieve) in a large bowl and pour the milk into the bag. Depending on your filtration method, you may have to squeeze a lot, or not all. I count on a little liquid loss, so I don't squeeze too, too much. I find that excess squeezing causes pulp to sneak through whatever bag I'm using.
- Pour the strained milk back into your blender, and add the vanilla, salt and your favorite liquid sweetener (I used caramel agave when I made chocolate milk, but maple syrup for the rest.)
- Now add your flavoring: fruit, organic raspberry or blueberry powder or organic cacao. Mix for 30 seconds. Taste and add more fruit/powder if necessary.
- Pour the finished milk into your favorite bottle and store in the refrigerator for 4-6 days.