I found unsweetened almond milk to be a great item for a morning smoothie or shake, with protein powder. It is actually fairly sweet, even in the unsweetened form. Does anyone use it? If so, is it ok to heat it to use to make hot cocoa or another kind of warm drink? I try to avoid milk when I can, for the carbs and I don’t use or care for soy either.
thanks for any wisdom you can share on this product.
Michelle
Yes! Almond milk has been a lifesaver to me! I try to avoid soy because I have a hypothyroid in addition to diabetes and I’m a bit on the lactose intolerant side. In addition, researchers are looking at if milk ingestion in the first few years of life leads to diabetes. With that in mind, I tend to avoid dairy. Low-carb almond milk is a welcome alternative.
do you heat it? like for cocoa?
thanks,
Michelle
I only heat it when I cook it with my morning oatmeal. I’m sure it would be lovely with cocoa.
Hi Michelle,
I really like almond milk, too. Works fine heated for cocoa & other things. Works well for baking in place of milk also.
Haven’t tried it yet, but saw a heavy cream substitute made from almonds & cashews. Sounds interesting.
Ooooh Gerri, that does sound yummy. Let me know if you try it. Did you see it at a regular grocery store?
I am glad to hear that Almond milk works for warm drinks. I used to like a bit of cocoa at bedtime. I use the unsweetend kind (droste) and now add some diVinci sugar free syrup. When you crave something sweet at night, it is a nice treat. But the milk was carby.
Michelle
Hot cocoa is so yummy & comforting. I add a little splash of heavy cream to the almond milk for cocoa.
I saw the almond/cashew milk at a health food store. Wish I could remember the brand. Will let you know when I try it. Was expensive, but not more than heavy cream & quart would last a long time.
Darn my grocery store - I stopped in on the way home from work to pick up some unsweetened almond milk. They had the 60 calorie plain kind, but cane sugar was listed in the ingredients. Hot chocolate sounded so good . . .
I use the Blue Diamond Almond Breeze brand. They have an unsweetened chocolate that works great in smoothies. Only 3 grams of carbs per cup, and 45 calories. Haven’t tried to add cocoa to it yet, but will definitely do that!!
I haven’t seen Blue Diamond unsweetened chocolate, but it sounds great. Is there an artificial sweetener in it?
Here’s the almond/cashew cream substitute I mentioned:
Mimic Creme (unsweetened). Haven’t tried it yet.
Ingredients (Unsweetened): Purified water, almonds, cashews, bicarbonate soda, rice starch, salt.
Nutrition facts (Unsweetened):
Serving Size: 1 tbsp (15 mL)
Servings per Container: 63
Calories per Serving: 10
Calories from Fat: 10
Total fat: 1g
Saturated Fat: 0g
Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0g
Sodium: 10mg
Potassium: 15mg
Total Carbohydrates: 1g
Fiber: 0g
Sugars: 0g
Protein: 0g
Vitamin A: 0%
Calcium: 0%
Phosphorus: 0%
Vitamin C: 0%
Iron: 0%
Copper: 2%
Magnesium: 2%
Manganese: 2%
I finally found almond milk and I’ve been making hot chocolate and chocolate almond milk. I use the recipe on the Hershey’s tin. Mix 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa with 1/3 cup water in a saucepan. Heat it to a simmer, stirring constantly until it’s cooked and looking like melted milk chocolate. Add a little more water if needed to keep it from burning. This brings out the rich chocolate taste of cocoa. I used this technique when I made chocolate cakes in a previous life.
This is enough for 6 cups of tasty hot cocoa. Just refrigerate the slurry in a plastic container and scoop out what you need. Add almond milk and microwave until warm and then add sweetener and vanilla for cocoa. It also make great chocolate almond milk.
Thanks for suggesting almond milk - I never would have thought of it.
If use 2 tablespoons cocoa slurry and 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk, that’s 5 grams net carbs or 7 grams if you count fiber as carbs.
Judith,
I’m sure it’s ok to heat and bake with it. I haven’t tried to, but don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I’ve never had any other brand (don’t think I’ve even seen others…almond milk is not very popular, I guess!), so don’t have much to compare it to!
Gerri,
No artificial sweetener in the almond milk (I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise!!). It is not sweet. It is an acquired taste, but I like it. I started drinking it because I read somewhere that it’s supposed to be good for you (good fats), and I like the fact that I don’t have to bolus for it at only 3 g carbs. I love rice milk, too, but the carbs on that is something like 27 g…not worth it (I’d rather eat my carbs than drink them!! Just a quirk I have!)
I am totally going to try this once I log out of here!!!
If you do, try Gerry’s suggestion and add a touch of cream for richness. Yum!
I have used three different brands of unsweetened almond milk and they have all been good. I actually think it tastes more sweet than not… I don’t mean like it has sugar but I’ve tasted other unsweetened things and I think unsweetened almond milk is quite neutral. I use it in my morning shake and usually I use a banana and some fage yogurt and it is sweet enough. I am going to try Yvonne’s slurry recipe as having this on hand will be fun. It has made a cup of cocoa at night, when I am done quilting, to be such a nice basically ‘free’ treat.
Thanks to everyone for the info it was ok to heat it. I THOUGHT it should be but wasn’t sure.
Michelle
I just started drinking this a couple of weeks ago. Check different brand. The one I get has 30 cal per 8 oz, 1 carb, & 0 sugar.
Kim, what brand did you buy?
I have the following:
Pacific organic Almond milk, unsweetened low fat vanilla with
1 - 8 0z serving, 40 calories, 2g carb (zero fiber and zero sugar)
Almond Breeze unsweetened
1 - 8 0z serving, 40 calories, 2g carb (1 g fiber and zero sugar)
Any other brands out there?
Michelle
Unsweetened Almond Dream