Don’t we all have a love/hate relationship with Nutella? We love it when it is sitting in our pantry, waiting for us to be spooned straight from the jar, but hate it when we feel guilty afterwards about having eaten half of it in one sitting. And haven’t we all done that, in the middle of the night, in our PJs?!
What if I could tell you that there is a healthier alternative, that doesn’t make you feel as guilty and that tastes just as delicious as the store-bought kind, if not even more!
You should know that homemade Nutella will never be as smooth as the store-bought kind. If you look at the ingredients of Nutella, you will see that the main ingredient is sugar, followed by palm oil and hazelnuts come only in third place. In my Nutella the first and main ingredient are hazelnuts. Therefore the texture will always be slightly grainier, but also better because it is made of pure ingredients.
I used dark chocolate in this recipe (Lindt 70%), which I believe brings out the nuttiness even more. When you add the dark chocolate give it a try and see if it is sweet enough for your taste. If it is, you can leave out the agave syrup and vegetable oil.
Nutella is ridicously easy to make, all you need is a food processor or high-intensity blender- Then be sure to be patient and only add the chocolate when you have reached that glorious hazelnut butter stage!
- 400g raw hazelnuts
- 100g dark chocolate 70%
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of sea salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1 tbsp maple or agave syrup
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil (almond or hazelnut oil is best)
- Preheat oven to 150°C. Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast them for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove them from the oven and wrap them in a kitchen towel. Leave them in the towel until they are cool enough to touch. Still in the kitchen towel, rub the hazelnuts against each other until most of the skins are off. This doesn't have to be perfect, there will be a few stubborn nuts.
- Place the skinned hazelnuts in a food processor or high performance blender and blend until you have a creamy nut butter, about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
- Meanwhile, melt the chocolate over a double boiler.
- Once your hazelnut butter is ready, add the melted chocolate, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Blend until all is well incorporated. If you want your Nutella to be sweeter, add the maple syrup and oil and blend again until smooth.
- Pour your Nutella in a mason jar and store in the fridge. It will harden slightly when chilled. Bring it to room temperature or heat it to soften.
Store in the fridge.
*Adapted from Minimalist Baker
I store my Homemade Nutella in the fridge. It will harden but you can simply pop a small amount in the microwave for a few seconds to make it creamy again.
So after all that praise for the one of a kind chocolate hazelnut spread, let me know how you like to eat your Nutella? Are you a minimalist and only need a spoon or are you a dipper?
4 Comments
Chrissie
July 29, 2015 at 1:44 pmI enyoy the pure “bowtella ” with a spoon, sometimes I dip pieces of ananas to make it even healthier ??
Vicki
July 29, 2015 at 7:40 pmDipping pineapple is my favorite too! :)
Kim
September 6, 2015 at 3:12 pmWow, das schaut so easy aus! :)
Wenn ich Nutella lieben würde, würde ich es sofort selbst machen :)
Vicki
September 7, 2015 at 3:54 amIst wirklich ganz einfach! :)
Haha sei froh, wenn ich ein Glas zu Hause habe, kann ich einfach nicht aufhören!