Ginger Snaps Recipe + Homemade Almond Milk (Bonus: What To Do With The Leftover Almond Meal)

If you’ve ever made your own Almond Milk you know that there’s a bit of a dilemma. After you strain the pulp out of the liquid and squeeze it dry, you just don’t want to throw it out! Sometimes I plop it in smoothies but this week I decided to try out a cookie recipe, instead.

Truth is, I actually made Golden Milk, a wonderful anti-inflammatory drink I love to sip at night before bed. *To see that recipe and how to make your own simple Almond Milk scroll down to the very bottom.*

So I had this funny looking, yellow pulp mixed into my almond meal. I knew I needed a cookie with a flavor profile that would be strong enough to handle the turmeric and ginger in the pulp left over after making my milk.

The gingersnap was born. I morphed a family recipe to be both healthier and include the good stuff I didn’t want to toss out. Here is what I came up with…

Ginger Snaps With Almond Pulp

Ingredients:

• approximately 1 C almond pulp (if you aren’t using leftover pulp from almond milk, use almond flour/meal, and the turmeric is optional)
• 1 C flour (I used spelt, but any version will work)
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger (use 1 tsp. if you didn’t blend fresh ginger into your milk)
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. salt (yes, it’s a lot, but it adds to it —if you’re skeptical, drop it down to 1 tsp.)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 melted coconut oil
• 1/4 C maple syrup
• 1/4 C molasses

Method:

• Preheat to 350ºF
• Stir together the dry ingredients. (If using dry almond meal, mix it here)
• In a stand mixer or with a wooden spoon, beat together the wet ingredients.
• Dump in the damp almond pulp and blend the whole mix until smooth and typical of the consistency of cookie dough.
• Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a silicone mat or greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 11-12 minutes.
• Note: the cookies are a little on the cakey side and are definitely chewy. I found pressing them with the back of a fork (like a peanut butter cookie with a criss-cross) made them more cookie-like. We found the cakiness to increase as they aged, so best to enjoy them fresh!

Golden Milk Recipe:

To 1 cup of soaked (overnight) and rinsed raw almonds, add two cups fresh water, about one-two inches of fresh turmeric, one-two inches of fresh ginger and three peppercorns. You can also spice it up more and add about 1/4- 1/2 inch of fresh cinnamon stick and the seeds pulled out from one fresh cardamom pod.

Blend in the Vitamix, then strain through a nut bag. When ready to drink, heat with a little honey and a small amount of coconut oil. The oil and pepper make the turmeric more bio-available.

Almond Milk Recipe:

Use the same soaked almond and water ratio as above, but blend with two pitted dates and a dash of vanilla!