Mocha hazelnut milk - the best way to drink your coffee is in this from scratch hazelnut milk with chocolate and coffee! (Vegan/refined sugar free).
Have you ever tried making your own nut milk? It is easy to do, and while it does require some preparation as the nuts need to soak overnight, it results in a much creamier, more flavourful milk than those that you can buy at the store.
You can also flavour it as you like, as I did here with this delicious mocha hazelnut milk.
To make nut milk, the nuts are usually blended with water; but I thought, why not use coffee instead?! So I blended up soaked toasted hazelnuts with cooled freshly brewed coffee, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and maple syrup and omg it is good!
I like to keep this mocha hazelnut milk in the fridge and drink it over ice for my mid-morning coffee fix. It is THE BEST iced coffee - rich, flavourful and very, very moreish!
Froothie Optimum Vac2 Vacuum Blender Review:
To blend the milk I used my fancy new Froothie Optimum Vac2 power blender. I have had this blender for a little while now, but I wanted a chance to test it fully before posting a review.
So far I have been absolutely loving it and it gets used almost daily, for everything from smoothies to nut butters to sauces to pesto. The main exciting difference between the Vac2 and my old Froothie Optimum 9400 (review here) is the vacuum function. This is a setting which sucks all of the air out of the jug before the contents are blended.
Why Vacuum Blending?
Froothie claim that the benefit of vacuum blending is that because all of the air is removed from the jug, it prevents the contents from oxidising and losing nutrients.
This means that you can make smoothies ahead of time and they will not separate or discolour as they sit. This means that you can keep your smoothie in the fridge to drink later and it won't go grey and gross looking. (It will also come in super handy for me for photographing smoothies, they usually discolour before I am done photographing!).
How To Use The Vacuum Function:
The vacuum function is really easy to use, but it should only be used for smoothies or fruits and veggies, not the other blender functions. You just need to make sure that the little 'arm' thing on the base is sat on top of the lid of the jug then press the vacuum button. It will take 70 seconds for the air to be sucked out; it makes a bit of a weird noise so don't be alarmed!
Once it has finished, select the smoothie or fruit/veg function and let it do it's thing. Once blended, you need to press the little rubber vacuum release button on the top of the lid or you won't be able to get the lid off the jug!
Froothie Optimum Vac2 Specifications:
In addition to the vacuum function, the Vac2 can do everything that a normal power blender can do including making soups right in the blender, grinding nuts or coffee beans, chopping vegetables, making sauces and even crushing ice etc etc.
It boasts a powerful 2238W motor and has a 6 blade assembly, rather than the usual 3, which means that it handles tasks like crushing ice with ease.
It also comes with a tamper tool, which you can use to help push ingredients down towards the blades for smoother mixtures - particularly useful when making things like nice cream, hummus or super thick smoothies.
It has four preset functions - smoothie, nuts, veg&fruit and soup, which I find really useful; you can just select the preset then leave it to do it's thing. It also has a pulse function, and you can also manually select the speed and length of time it blends for.
The Good:
The Vac2 makes the smoothest smoothies I have ever had! It has also performed exceedingly well at every task I have used it for. I love the preset functions and the vacuum function is pretty cool too.
All in all the Vac2 is a pretty awesome piece of kit that has become utterly indispensable in my kitchen.
Are There Any Negatives?:
Just the one. It is really, really tall (51cm), which means that it doesn't fit under the cupboards on my worktop so I can't keep it with my other appliances. Other than that though I really love it.
Where To Buy The Vac2 Blender:
To buy the Froothie Optimum Vac2 vacuum blender, head over to the Froothie site where you can get:
- free UK delivery
- £20 off with the code AMB20
- 0% finance
- 5 years warranty
- 30-day money back guarantee (including return postage)
- a choice of three colours – red, black or silver
How To Make Mocha Hazelnut Milk:
(For ingredients and full instructions see the recipe card below)
You need to start the day before you blend the milk as the hazelnuts need to soak overnight to be soft enough to blend smoothly.
Start by toasting the hazelnuts in the oven until they are browned and fragrant.
Wrap them up in a clean tea towel and rub them together; the skins should flake off. Don't worry if you can get all of the skin off, you just need to remove most of it.
Cover the hazelnuts with water and leave to soak in the fridge overnight.
The next day; drain the nuts and tip them into your blender. Add cooled freshly brewed coffee, cocoa/cacao powder, maple syrup and vanilla extract and blend until very smooth.
Pour the mixture into a nut milk bag or a clean muslin cloth and squeeze the liquid through. Make sure you squeeze it really hard to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids or keep them to use in things like granola or cookies.
Taste the milk and add more maple syrup if needed then refrigerate until very cold before serving. Will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge.
If you want to make regular hazelnut milk rather than mocha hazelnut milk, simply swap the coffee for water and omit the cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Once it is blended and strained, add maple syrup as desired.
You can also swap the coffee for water but keep the cocoa powder, maple syrup (though you may need to use less) and vanilla extract to make a really delicious chocolate hazelnut milk that tastes like nutella!
If you tried this recipe why not tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
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Mocha Hazelnut Milk
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) raw hazelnuts
- 1 litre (4 cups) cooled freshly brewed coffee
- 5-6 Tbsp maple syrup
- 5 Tbsp cocoa or cacao powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Start the day before blending the milk. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned and fragrant.
- Tip the nuts into a clean tea towel, wrap them up and allow to sit for a minute. Rub the hazelnuts in the tea towel to remove the skins; don't worry if you don't manage to get them all off.
- Place the skinned hazelnuts in a bowl and cover with cold water. Place in the fridge and leave to soak overnight, or for 8 hours.
- Drain the soaked nuts and place in a blender with the coffee, cocoa powder, 4 Tbsp of the maple syrup and the vanilla extract. Blend until very smooth.
- Pour the mixture into a nut milk bag or clean muslin cloth/tea towel set over a large bowl or jug. Squeeze the milk through the cloth to remove any solids; make sure that you squeeze as much liquid as possible through for the best flavour.
- Discard the solids (or keep to use in granola/cookies). Taste the milk and add more maple syrup as needed. Place in the fridge to chill before serving.
- Serve over ice. Milk will keep in the fridge for up to five days.
Notes
*I’m a Froothie ambassador and was sent the Optimum Vac2 to review. If you click on the above links and purchase one of their products I will receive a small amount of commission. All opinions are my own. I only recommend products that I love and use myself.
Cathy @ Planet Veggie
Have you made cashew milk? Cashews don't need soaking overnight and they also have the added bonus of the cashew milk not needing to be strained after blending 🙂 Your photos are fab and I love the bottles!
hannahhossack
Thanks Cathy! I haven't made cashew milk yet but I do use cashews a lot for things like vegan sour cream and mac n cheese 🙂 I found one of the bottles in Poundland!
Sally
Very interesting Hannah and I bet very delicious
Choclette
Just the thought of hazelnut milk has me wishing I had some hazelnuts to hand. But when added to coffee and cocoa , well just wow!