DF/SF me ~ Almond ‘Whipping Cream’

In the joys of being dairy free there are a few major drawbacks.  Whipping cream being one of them.  Luckily, I always have raw almonds on hand and I learned a trick in our tighter budget days.  If we were without the quickly perishable whipping cream, I would make this smooth almond ‘cream’ instead.  We all love it, I already know how to make it, and it is completely dairy free.

Ingredients:  Raw almonds, almond milk (water works just fine), and maple syrup.

This is my strategy.  First I soak the almonds in water overnight.

Then I peel the almonds.  The skins come off very easily.  With just a little pressure they ‘pop’ out of the skins.  Be careful… a few could end up flying across your kitchen!

I just cover the peeled almonds with almond milk or water and add 1 Tbs of maple syrup (add 2 Tbs if you are using plain water).

Then I stick blend away!  It takes several minutes to get the right consistency, but it is completely worth it.  With in a few minutes, you have sweet ‘cream’ that you can put on pancakes, crepes, etc. 

You can do this easily in a blender or a Vitamix, but I love my stick blender because it doesn’t dirty up another dish.  Just the mason jar, and I can store it in the jar too!

Kids tested, mother approved!  ;)