First thing, get to soaking those almonds. I like to use whole blanched almonds because they already have the papery, slightly bitter almond skins removed. If you don’t have blanched almonds you can either blanch them yourself, or use regular almonds. They work just fine, but you might have to strain your milk a little more carefully to get all the skins out. At any rate, the most important characteristic is that your almonds are raw, not toasted.

Cover the almonds with water, and soak them for at least 4 hours, or overnight. This softens them and makes them much easier to blend.

Once they’re soft, it’s time to milk those suckers. Strain the water from the almonds, and place the soaked almonds in your blender. Add 1.5 cups of water. We blend them with less water in the beginning, so they become a really smooth paste.

Blend the almonds and water for 1-2 minutes. If your blender is weak one, you’ll probably need to stop a few times and move things around with a spatula. Do not be alarmed that your almond milk starts out looking like chunky baby food. This is all part of the plan.

After a few minutes, you should have a beautiful smooth puree. However, we’re not making almond puree, so we need to keep going. Add the cinnamon and maple syrup or honey…

And add the remaining 2.5 cups of water. Blend everything together for another 2-3 minutes, until it is completely smooth and frothy. Taste the milk, and adjust the vanilla, cinnamon, and sweetener to taste. You might also find that a pinch of salt brings out the other flavors in the milk.

At this point the milk could technically be finished–after all, you have a substance with the color and consistency of milk, right? But all the almond solids in the milk tend to give it a chalky texture, so for a smoother, more creamy product we’ll strain the almond milk.

Place nut bag in bowl. Pour almond milk into nut bag while bag is in bowl.