I used to drink black coffee. I love coffee…like I’m that crazy coffee person who makes the driver stop for coffee as we pass cool coffee shops regardless of time constraints. I’m not quite sure how it happened but I found myself using hazelnut coffee creamer far more often than I thought I was. I love coffee by itself but there was just something about that fake, artificial, over sweetened “goodness” that I couldn’t step back from. Recently I weaned myself off the devilish hazelnut creamer again and have been drinking black coffee. Occasionally I still get the urge to put something “fun” in my coffee… AND I have a ton of clients who love creamer as well. I decided there has to be a better way. Wait for it….drum roll please… I’ve concocted my very own Vegan (non-dairy) Hazelnut “creamer” for my coffee. ((Look out for more variations I’ll be sharing this week!))
Soak 1 Cup Hazelnuts in water for 8 hours or overnight
Drain and rinse well. Place in blender and fill blender with 4 cups water. Blend well (until nuts are tiny flecks and mixture looks milky). Place a nut milk (or nylon paint strainer *new*) over a container and strain the cream squeezing the bag to get all the liquid out. The cream around the nuts is the most flavorful-so use those muscles!
You can leave the hazelnut cream as it is or lightly sweeten it for coffee. Your choice! I added 3tsp agave nectar for every 10oz of hazelnut cream. You can toss it back into the blender to mix in the agave or place it in a blender bottle and shake shake shake it (that’s what I did). If you do it in a blender bottle it makes for easy storage too 😉
Add to your coffee and enjoy! (I used 3oz in my coffee-it was awesome)
If you’d like more bang for you buck you can make this more “milk like” instead of cream. You do this by adding more water and re-blending the nuts again. See my almond milk recipe and just follow using the hazelnuts to get a gallon of milk instead of more flavorful thicker “cream.” Hope you enjoy! Let me know how you like it.
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