Chocolate hazelnut spread - Homemade Nutella

A chocolate hazelnut spread recipe in the style of homemade Nutella! This is a super tasty recipe with a creamy texture and rich chocolate taste. Easy to prepare and also a healthy recipe made with natural ingredients and low in sugar.

How about making your own chocolate hazelnut spread! For a change from industrial spreads that are often too high in saturated fats and refined sugars?

We all know and love Nutella spread, with its secret recipe and which nobody can resist! It is often used as a spread for breakfast or snacks, but also in cake recipes, as a filling for babka and nutella muffins.

But you are not without knowing that its composition is not very healthy! Indeed it is composed mainly of sugar and fat (it is the first 2 ingredients displayed on the label).

This spread is a good alternative to store bought Nutella. It contains more hazelnuts, good chocolate and much less sugar and fat.

Ingredients notes

• Hazelnuts : Whole and raw, previously roasted in the oven to bring out the full flavor of the hazelnuts.
• Chocolate: Milk chocolate, but you can use 70% dark chocolate, just reduce the amount of chocolate in the recipe by half and add a little more sugar.
• Natural sugar: Honey, which you can also substitute with maple syrup or another unrefined sugar like coconut sugar.
• Vegetable oil: hazelnut oil for its fragrance and also for its nutritional qualities. To be replaced by another neutral vegetable oil, such as coconut oil, canola oil (rapeseed) or walnut oil.
• Cocoa powder: As an option, unsweetened cocoa powder is added to spice up the chocolate. This also results in a darker, more compact chocolate spread.
• Vanilla Extract: A pure, liquid vanilla extract is essential to delicately flavor this chocolate spread.
• Salt: A tiny pinch of sea salt which is a flavor enhancer that brings out all the flavors and especially that of the chocolate.

Useful materials: Use a powerful food processor to get a smooth paste or a blender

How to make the homemade spread

1. Roast the raw hazelnuts in the oven by placing them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes at 302 °F / 150°C.
2. Let the roasted hazelnuts cool before rubbing them between your hands or in a kitchen towel to remove the skin of the hazelnuts.
3. Blend the hazelnuts in a food processor or a powerful blender and mix at maximum speed for 2 minutes at a time until you have a smooth hazelnut puree.
4. Melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.
5. Add honey, hazelnut oil, unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla extract and salt and mix again for a few moments.
6. Add the melted chocolate and mix again for 1 minute until you have a smooth spread.
7. Transfer the homemade chocolate spread to a large glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Tip: Don't forget the little pinch of salt that brings out all the flavors, especially that of the chocolate.

Conservation

It can be stored for about 2-3 weeks at room temperature in a glass jar with a lid, you can also put it in the fridge or store it in the freezer.

In the fridge it will have a more compact texture. Put it in the microwave for a few moments or spread it on toasted bread, the spread will regain its smooth texture.

How to make a sucessfull spread

Roast the hazelnuts

This is an important step in order to get a maximum of hazelnut flavour and a delicious hazelnut taste in your spread.

Be careful not to burn the hazelnuts too much in the oven, the oven should not be too strong just enough to loosen the skin of hazelnuts.

Blend the hazelnuts finely for a creamy texture

You should know that the texture will be different from the real nutella. Because the latter contains very few hazelnuts (contrary to this recipe) and a lot of sugar and palm oil which gives it this creamy texture.

But to obtain a smooth paste without feeling the hazelnut grains in your mouth, you need to use a powerful processor that will finely blend the hazelnuts and reduce them to a smooth paste.

This is the longest step in this recipe and you have to blend progressively at maximum speed, pausing every 2 minutes. (In all this step takes 7 to 10 minutes).

Use quality chocolate

The quality of the chocolate is also important depending on whether you want something softer and more like Nutella, in this case prefer a milk chocolate, but for a more chocolatey flavor take in this case a quality chocolate at 70%.

Don't forget the salt and the vanilla.

These two ingredients are essential and are also found in the real Nutella recipe. They bring each their small incredible touch which brings out the taste of chocolate and hazelnuts.

More filling recipes

• Raw almond butter
• Brown butter
• Salted caramel sauce
• Raw peanut butter
• Unsweetened Applesauce
• Praline paste
• Lemon curd
• Strawberry compote

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