Non-Dairy (Cashew) Coffee Creamer

I am doing pretty well in my endeavor to eliminate all dairy from my life.  However, I don't want to simply replace all of it with soy either.  I drink soy milk, and I eat soy yogurt, so I needed another solution for coffee creamer.  With a bit of research, the cashew coffee creamer was born.

They will tell you that you must use whole cashews for this, that pieces won't work, blahblah.  They are also wrong.  I buy raw cashew pieces in bulk, and they work just fine for this purpose.  The soaking part is essential.  You must soak them so that they plump up and blend nice and creamy.

You will note, from my pictures, that while my blender is quite good enough, it's also not a Vitamix.  It's almost sacrilege to be a vegetarian and not own a Vitamix.  So if anyone sees the Vitamix fairy, send her my way, because there's just no way we can pay $650.00 for a blender.

Speaking of my pictures, please excuse the crappiness of them today.  I don't know what went wrong, but I obviously should have turned on the flash.  It's pretty cloudy outside.

Cashew Coffee Creamer

Ingredients:

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw cashews (I use 1/4 cup.  I'm the only one in the house who drinks coffee, and I don't drink it every day.)
• Water
• Vanilla
• Dash Cinnamon
• Dash Cloves

Directions:

1. Soak cashews AT LEAST eight hours, preferably over night
2. Rinse cashews and put into blender with fresh water to cover.  How much water depends on personal taste.  The more water the thinner it will be.  I use enough to cover the nuts by about an inch.
3. Add cap full vanilla
4. Add dash of cinnamon
5. Add dash of cloves
6. Blend until liquefied and smooth
7. If you don't have a Vitamix, you may want to strain it through a fine mesh strainer

The flavoring is obviously up to personal interpretation.  You can use vanilla extract, almond extract, allspice, nutmeg, chocolate shavings or cocoa powder--whatever you like.

I'm a real fan of my little bottle of perpetual vanilla.  I got that for Yule two years ago at a grab bag gift exchange kind of thing.  The people who brought it were amused at my delight and joked that they were trying to be cheap.  It remains, however, one of the best gifts I've ever received.

Enjoy!