This dairy-free almond cream recipe was shared with us by a reader. It’s a great substitute for sweetened heavy cream or whipped cream for topping desserts. If you need a savory option, you can omit the maple syrup and extracts. The almonds provide richness, but for thickening, the recipe uses agar agar. This ingredient can be found at natural food stores, like Whole Foods.
Special Diet Notes: Almond Cream
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, peanut-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian.
Almond Cream
This rich dairy-free cream alternative is oil-free, but thickened with agar-agar flakes to keep it somewhat light. The recipe uses a higher ratio of almonds to water than boxed almond milk, so don't substitute store-bought almond milk. Please note that the prep time is hands on time only. There is chilling time needed.
Ingredients
Method
- In a saucepan, place 2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Add the almonds, boil for 1 minute, remove the pan from the heat, and set aside for 5 minutes. Drain and discard the water. Using your fingers, squeeze the almonds out of their skins and discard the skins.
- Transfer the almonds to a food processor and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until a fine meal forms. While the machine is running, drizzle in the remaining 1 cup water, and process an additional 1 minute. Line a colander or strainer with a double thickness of cheesecloth (or coffee filters) and pour the creamy almond milk mixture through the cheesecloth to strain.
- In a saucepan, combine the rich almond milk, maple syrup, agar-agar flakes, and salt, and bring to a boil while stirring with a whisk occasionally. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 5 minutes while whisking occasionally, or until the agar-agar flakes are dissolved completely. Whisk in the vanilla and almond extract (if using), and transfer the mixture to a glass container.
- Place a piece of waxed paper on top to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until firm, or overnight.
- When the mixture is firm, place in the food processor, and process for 1 to 2 minutes or until light and creamy. Taste and add additional vanilla or almond extract, if desired.
Nutrition
Notes
Agar Powder Option: If you can only find agar powder, reduce the amount to 2 teaspoons.
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21 Comments
Hi! Would it be possible to put this into an ISI charger?
I’m really not sure about that. I don’t think it would work quite the same.
Hi, I want to make a heavy drinkable cream using almond flour, not almonds. Do you know a recipe for this? Thank you
You should be able to just blend it with water. I would start with 50/50 and see what the consistency is like for you.
I have tried the recipe yesterday and results is awful. The amount of agar-agar isn’t clear, because the common form of agar is a powder. So 3gr(about 1tsp) of agar can hold about 2 cups of water in jelly form. Agar is really strong, stronger than gelatin.
So, after I add 3tbs of agar and as final have aful “hard rubber”type of jelly. It’s impossible to turn in whipped cream, because it crumble like Parmesan cheese.
Could you scale agar in gr or oz?
Hi Anna, I’m a little confused – so you used 3 tablespoons of agar powder? That would be way too much. Agar powder is much more concentrated than the flakes, so you can’t substitute it 1-to-1 for the flakes. You would use just about 2 teaspoons of the powder.
Hi Alisa, So, I added about 3 or 4 cups of almond milk (use same almond pulp for it), a lot of vanilla and syrup for taste, then heated up whit “strange almond jelly”. The final result was possible to blend, but consistansy was more like “overwhipped whipped cream” . It wasn’t smooth like “normal whipped cream”, more like “cream cheesee frosting” or “light cream cheesee”. So, I added lemon juice to it and now I have really good cheesee frosting.
By the way, “almond cream” keeps the form well at room temperature.
Perhaps, for 1 cup of almond milk the optimum amount of agar-agar powder is 1/2 tbs or less.
Fantastic! Thank you so much for your feedback on this Anna.
Hi Alisa,
Thanks for this recipe.
Could I please ask if the whipped cream will stay stable at room temperature?
I need it for a cake but the cake will sit on the table for 20 minutes or so….will the almond cream melt/fall in this time?
Thank you.
Hi Julia, I don’t believe it will melt, but I recommend testing it out ahead of time. This isn’t one of my personal recipes.
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How much arrowroot powder would we use in place of the flakes?
Hi Erin, I don’t think arrowroot would be a suitable substitute for agar.
Can I use xanthan gum instead of agar agar flakes? Cuz I cant find those flakes in Venezuela 🙁
I haven’t tested that as of yet, but it could work well.
I’m trying to make this for my mom who can’t have any dairy products, well I don’t have those flakes, or corn starch, or arrowroot, or anything like that, so I’m trying flour and water to make a paste. I’m seriously doubting how well this will work (with flour). If all goes well I will be back, but I have a feeling I will not have whipcream in the morning, but how long do you think it will take for this to set?
Hi Michelle, I would guess a few hours.
I am so sorry if this sounds like an “off” remark.. but why not just use almond milk?
It would be too thin and watery.
Can I Use Plain Almond Milk Instead of Boiling The Almonds?
Lenee, the boiling process is just to blanch the almonds (it is optional or you can buy blanched almonds and skip this step). Store bought almond milk won’t be rich enough to make a cream.