Most of us started life with mother’s milk as our first
form of sustenance. Then at some point, we started infringing on the sustenance
of calves, namely cow’s milk. From there we either continued on some form of
the same whether it was full fat, reduced fat or skim or totally eliminated it
from our diet either due to lactose intolerance or because we simply preferred
a more animal friendly diet without any added animal products. Which means
either almond milk or soy milk.
Almond Milk
Produced from blanched almonds to maintain the creamy
white appearance, almond milk surpassed soy milk as the most popular vegetarian
milk in the United States about 5 years ago. A cup of almond milk only contains
about half the calories of soy milk (which has about half the calories as cow’s
milk) mainly due to a lower protein and carbohydrate content compared to soy
milk. I’ll admit that I have never sampled almond milk as I almost never
consume traditional breakfast cereals in the morning. Since I’m a little
lactose intolerant, I might have switched to either soy milk or almond milk but
since my breakfast cereal consumption is nil, I only use cow, soy or almond
milk for cooking purposes.
I do consume almonds in their original state quite
frequently whether it’s the smoked or wasabi soy canned variety, sliced and
toasted in the perfect zucchini carpaccio or ground in the perfect Romesco
sauce but never in the liquid state.
Soy Milk
Created by soaking and grinding soybeans then boiling the
resulting liquid and filtering any remaining solids, soy milk won’t give the
same reaction to those who are lactose intolerant. However since it does
originate from a bean, you can still experience certain gastrointestinal
symptoms that occur when you consume a lot of beans due to similar
oligosaccharides that only get digested by your resident bacterial flora in your
lower intestine. Yes, those same musical side effects. That’s probably why
almond milk’s popularity has surpassed soy milk.
But then again, it’s not like we’ve been pouring all that
soy milk down the drain as soy milk’s primary application is after a coagulant
is added to the liquid to create that luscious “soy cheese” or tofu. However,
since it brings the same creamy richness and protein as its bovine cousin, it
often can be used interchangeably in many cooking applications. And because
there also are chocolate flavored versions of liquid soy, you can give your
muffins an extra burst of flavor…
Mocha, Banana and
Soy Milk Muffins
½ block margarine or shortening
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 large banana, smashed
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 & 1/4 cups chocolate flavored soy milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups or
line with paper muffin cases.
In a large bowl cream together margarine and sugar. Beat
in egg. Add banana and blend until it is completely mixed. In a separate bowl
mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Add dry
ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in soy milk then spoon into muffin
tray. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes until a toothpick
inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.
Or you can stick with the standard version of soy milk
but kick up the flavor of your pancakes with both almond extract and Amaretto
infused dried sour cherries…
Soy Milk Cherry
Pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup vanilla soy milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
About ¼ cup dried sour cherries soaked in Amaretto for 30
minutes then roughly chopped
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking
powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, mix the vanilla soy milk, egg,
oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Pour the soy milk mixture into the
bowl with the flour mixture, and whisk together until smooth.
Grease a skillet, and heat over medium heat. Pour about
1/4 cup batter onto the heated skillet, and cook until bubbly. Flip with a
spatula, and continue cooking about 2 minutes, until golden brown. Repeat with
the remaining batter.
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