Who doesn’t like chocolate milk?  It’s chocolate that you can drink!  When I was younger, we had a glass of milk with every meal but chocolate milk was a special treat.  We didn’t buy it often and when my mom did let us have it she would mix it with regular milk to make it last longer and cut down on the amount of sugar we were consuming.  Pretty sneaky mom!

I haven’t had regular chocolate milk in years due to my lactose intolerance and the fact that there really is a lot of sugar in those drinks.  But I had a hankering the other day and I decided to try my hand at making a nut milk version.  Now I will say that I don’t have a fancy high powered blender like the Vitamix or Blendtec but I was still able to make a decent nut milk with my old Ninja blender.  So those of you who are lucky enough to possess those amazing blenders this will be a breeze for you and to those of you like me it will just take a little extra time.

You will have to soak the nuts for at least 6 hours so make sure that you plan ahead a little.  Otherwise this recipe comes together fairly quickly and will last for about a week if kept in the fridge.  Let’s get to that chocolate milk!

Chocolate Macadamia Milk 

• 1 cup raw macadamia nuts
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 2-3 tbsp honey or maple syrup (could also use 5-6 dates)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 oz dark chocolate (at least 70% or darker)
• cheese cloth or nut milk bag

1.  Soak the nuts for at least 6 hours.  Drain them and place into blender and pulse a few times to break up the nuts.

2.  Add in water, sweetener of choice, vanilla, and salt.  Blend everything until it is smooth and creamy.  High powered blenders will take less time, regular blenders will take a bit longer.

3.  Place cheesecloth/nut milk bag over a large bowl and pour nut milk into the bowl.  Carefully squeeze out all of the liquid until you just have pulp left in the cloth or bag.  (Save the pulp to use in baking/cracker/smoothies/or as bread crumbs) Pour the milk into a medium saucepan.

4.  Turn heat to medium low and add the dark chocolate to your milk.  Constantly stirring the milk, melt the chocolate completely.  It may look like the chocolate isn’t going to incorporate into the milk, but don’t worry.  Just make sure there are no huge chunks left.

5.  Once everything is melted, using either an immersion blender or blender, blend until the chocolate is fully combined.  Your milk should turn brown like regular chocolate milk and there shouldn’t be any pieces left.

6.  Pour your milk into a container and let it cool completely.  Store in the fridge and it should keep for up to 5 days.

I love how thick and creamy this milk turned out and it really hit the spot.  You could use this to dunk cookies or pour over cereal for an extra treat.  You can also play with the amount of sweetener you use to fit your taste.  I used the lower end because I didn’t want it super sweet but you can use more if you wanted.

I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you back on Monday!