I did that on purpose. This is not quite instructional as much as it is a series journaling my attempts to find the closest thing to a half-and-half or a less-sweetened coffee creamer.
The Goal:
A creamy additive for coffee, cappuccino-based drinks, tea, smoothies, and milk tea.
Ideally, the vilk (vegan milk**) would work well for all of these purposes, but I am not against making 2 varieties a week. That is, as long as it isn't too labourious. Production will be one at a time until I find my favourites.
In all likelihood, I will try to keep the sweetness to a minimum.
Flavours too. I find flavours like vanilla are a tad too much for the teas I like, and I never know until the kettle is boiled if I am making tea or coffee. Maybe I am a little heavy-handed when it comes to pouring the vanilla extract I have.
The ingredients will stick to easy availability within Chinese supermarkets, smaller grocery stores (including those in rural China), and online shopping APPs. For an added bonus, I'll try to do a price comparison to Canadian brands. I have tried many Canadian milk alternatives, however, I haven't been home since 2019, so I cannot vouch for the taste.
** going with the term vilk for now. I'm not proud of it, but as it goes, commit to pour.
Skip to recipes:
Attempt 1 [2021-04-14]
Oat Milk Coffee Creamer
Yield: 350ml Fridge: 3-5 days
Ingredients:
1 cup Oats, Rolled;
2 cups water, room temperature;
1 capful Vanilla Extract;
salt to taste.
Method:
In the blender/Robot Coupe/food processor, pour in the water, and oats. Blend 60 seconds;
With a fine-meshed strainer, strain the milk. To help it along, I like to stir it with a spoon. This doesn't mean to mash it through. I mean the exact opposite, the stir is just to remove the liquid. Put the pulp aside. If it still had a bit of grain, rinse the strainer and strain again;
Now, if you would like to add the vanilla and salt, do it now. Stir it in;
Taste the milk and commit it to memory. This is vital as you need to know if the milk is expiring. Speaking of expiring, if it bubbles, tastes off, or changes colour, I would go ahead and assume it may make you sick;
Store in an air-tight jar in the fridge for up to 5 days. It will separate. Just give it a shake. The liquids have different viscosity, so the denser will fall to the bottom. This is normal.
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