Place almonds in a bowl or jar and cover with cold water. Leave on the counter for a minimum of 2 hours, but up to 12 hours. (If you don’t have time to blend the almond after 12 hours, replace the water and keep in the fridge for up to 2 days.)
Dump the soaking water and rinse soaked almond. Remove the skins by squeezing one at a time with your index finger and thumb. The skins will just pop off. It is kind of fun actually.
Rinse the peeled almond again, and then add to your blender along with water, dates (remove seeds), cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, and a pinch of salt.
Blend on high for 1 minute or more, depending on how high-powered your blender is. A high speed blender on high speed will only take a minute. The almonds should be ground up very fine.
The next step is to strain the almonds through a nut bag, fine mesh strainer, or fine cheesecloth. Squeeze and squish until all the liquid is extracted. The almond meal that’s left can be discarded, or used for other recipes (see notes).
Notes
Dates
If your dates are not the soft medjool dates, soak them for 20 minutes first before blending.
Leftover almond pulp
I typically compost the almond pulp. I figure that I’ve extracted all the good stuff out of the almonds, and what is left is mainly just the fiber. For ideas on how to use up leftover almond pulp, check this post from Minimilist Baker.