What should I expect I if I substitute Almond Milk for cow’s milk in baking and other cooking? I’d like to start with cakes and maybe something like mac and cheese. Tired of buying milk and having it spoil.
I’ve only ever used the stuff in medieval recipes. Works pretty much like milk in both baking and cooking. But don’t you get UHT milk?
Why not Soy milk? That’s what vegetarians use and is therefore developed closly to cow milk. Other substitues are rice milk or oat milk.
Or UHT milk that last several months.
I love Almond Breeze, especially the chocolate flavor. I tried making pudding with the unflavored once. It didn’t set at all so there is a definite difference when it comes to that.
Wow, I had never heard of UHT milk before. I use to inventory grocery stores for a living in my college days and never saw the product. Not too fond of soy milk because of the hormones in it and rice milk seemed thin. I picked up some almond milk after watching a vegetarian cooking show. It seemed to be the chef’s choice but I after getting home I realized I never saw any recipes that I recognized. I have no idea how any of the milk alternatives work.
?? Where do you live / shop? Or where you looking in the wrong place? Normal milk is in the cool section in bottles or tetrapacks, but UHT milk is outside, at room temp.
Well, my mother is vegetarian and mostly uses Soy products, but also rice milk and oat milk. The best thing is to try them each to see if you like the taste, and look at the companies brands - some are more suited for cooking and others for drinking.
According to his profile, Magiver lives in Ohio. For whatever reason, we don’t really get UHT milk here in the States.
Magiver, I’m surprised that they don’t offer milk in quarts where you shop. Or are you you just using much less than a quart per two weeks?
They have it in the baking section in most stores I’ve been in. Parmalat I think they call one brand, comes in a carton like the Almond Breeze does.
You could also try powdered milk if it’s just shelf life you’re looking at. It’s fat free usually and for cooking it works really well. I used it for years because it’s so much cheaper.
I only buy milk for cooking so even the smallest amount goes to waste before I can use it again. I found UHT milk in the store today. The letters UHT were not prominant on the box but since it wasn’t refrigerated I stopped and read the label.
We use almond milk in baking all the time. We cook vegan at home, and it turns out soy is a migraine trigger for me so, during summer when I have migraines, we avoid it entirely, and the rest of the year keep it minimal.
Almond milk works pretty much like regular milk in baking. Make sure you get unsweetened for making stuff like mac and cheese or really any roux based savory dish. That’s the number one blarrrgh moment I’ve had with milk substitutes - the ‘original’ flavors are often quite heavily sweetened. Almond milk can be curdled with vinegar if you need an acidic milk - a lot of vegan baking uses this technique and it’s very handy.
Oh, I should mention, it’s also really easy to make from powdered almond should you need to.
You can freeze milk.
I’ve had best results with VitaSoy (original unsweetened) as far as getting results closest to milk. It’s really hard to get milk alternatives to thicken properly. I love almond milk as a beverage, but it really doesn’t thicken well, whereas I was able to make custard with VitaSoy. I use other soy beverages a lot as well, but when I have a recipe that requires milk or cream, it’s my first choice.
I had googled this same question not too long ago and the conscensus of what I found was that almond milk works fine in baking and most other recipes where you aren’t using milk as a thickener. In things like custards though, it will not work.
Yes, but it often separates. And tastes weird, not that that matters much in cooking.
I had never heard of UHT milk either until this thread - I now realize that I received a carton of it from a food pantry last year, but had no idea it was called “UHT milk” until this thread.
It is very uncommon to see this in the US. At the food pantry several individuals refused to accept the UHT cartons as they simply did not trust milk that wasn’t refrigerated and absolutely would not feed it to their children. Nor would my husband drink it (and he insisted it had to stay in the refrigerator, despite labeling that said refrigeration was unnecessary, and I eventually threw it out because he would NOT touch it and it expired). Um, yes, there is a VERY strong cultural bias in the US that Milk Must Be Refrigerated and if it’s not it is BAD BAD BAD.
I’m certain some people are willing to buy it, but the vast majority of people over here have never heard of it, and even if they have, do not trust it. I also suspect that if most peoples’ limited experience of it is with food pantries or soup kitchens (where it makes a lot of sense to use it) then it will be further encumbered with associations of poverty, being less than fresh, and substandard whether it is or not.
Tried the vanilla almond milk in corn muffins. Worked great. I was surprised how good it tastes. It’s definitely going on my oatmeal.
I’ll eventually try the UHT milk, I’m not proud. I really hate spending good money on milk and then throwing 90% of it away. I’m also allergic to it so I won’t miss the congestion it causes.
Idlewild, what kind of vinegar and how much do you use to curdle almond milk?
Most recipes seem to use apple cider vinegar, which is a nice non-obtrusive vinegar. I imagine plain white vinegar would do the trick though. Proportions are pretty flexible, but a teaspoon of vinegar to a cup of almond milk should do it.
Thanks. And thanks to everyone who chimed in.
Soy beans have been produced in the USA since at least the middle 1800s. Though soy seems like a healthy food product, it has now been so genetically modified, in the USA, that it no longer is healthy.
Almonds, too, are genetically modified, unless you find products that certify they are NOT genetically modified. I have found almond milks that are from almonds NOT genetically modified. Since I do not want soy for other reasons, I no longer remember if I found any soy milk from soy beans that are not genetically modified.
I use almond milk. I, too, made the mistake of using the sweeter version in my mac and cheese - which was so wrong! It was horrible! I have the unsweetened and regular (sweetened) almond milks, but grabbed the wrong one in a hurry and did not read the label.
I want to try to use almond milk in a cake recipe. Will have to let you know how it turned out. 