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 homemade version spread! For a change from industrial spreads that are often too high in saturated fats and refined sugars?

To be able to spread generously your toast at breakfast or at snack time with a homemade spread. With a good taste of hazelnuts and rich in chocolate. But above all with a healthy composition with natural ingredients and good for the health!

So go ahead and make your own chocolate spread!  It's easy and I explain in this article how to prepare it yourself to have this smooth and creamy texture.

Chocolate hazelnut spread

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 buns 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.

Why choose this recipe for healthy homemade Nutella

• It is delicious! The good taste of hazelnuts and chocolate.
• It is easy to make!
• Its nutritional qualities! Prepared with natural and quality ingredients!

Useful tools to make this recipe

• Baking sheet, to roast the hazelnuts.
• Powerful food processor to blend finely and have the least amount of grains and a smooth texture, it is also possible to make this recipe with a blender.
• An oven, to roast the hazelnuts and to feel the aroma of the hazelnuts even more.
• A spatula, to mix the ingredients together.
• A glass jar, with a lid for a long conservation.

Ingredients notes

Hazelnuts

The main ingredient in this homemade Nutella recipe is hazelnuts, raw hazelnuts that have been roasted in the oven to bring out the full flavor of the hazelnuts. And pureed hazelnuts with a powerful blender or a blender to obtain a smooth paste.

To go faster in this recipe you can also use a store-bought or homemade nut butter.

You can use a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts to make this recipe.

Chocolate

The second main ingredient in this recipe is chocolate! To make it as close as possible to Nutella, we use milk chocolate. You can also use chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate. Or you can use milk chocolate with 70% dark chocolate bar, just reduce the amount of chocolate in the recipe by half and add a little more sugar.

Natural Sugar

Honey to naturally sweeten your spread, which you can also replace with maple syrup or another unrefined sugar like coconut sugar. This also works with another powdered sugar.

Tip: for a low-sugar spread, use 70% dark chocolate and don't add sugar to your spread.

Vegetable oil

A quality vegetable fat, rich in good fat. I used hazelnut oil here mainly for its flavor and also for its nutritional qualities. You can replace it with another neutral vegetable oil, such as coconut oil, canola oil or walnut oil.

Cocoa powder

As an option, unsweetened cocoa powder is added to spice up the chocolate. This also gives a darker, more compact chocolate spread.

Vanilla Extract

A pure liquid vanilla extract, 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 chocolate.

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.

How to store the chocolate hazelnut spread

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 chocolate hazelnut 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.

Chocolate hazelnut spread video

(coming soon)

Other recipes for homemade spreads

• Homemade almond puree
• Easy peanut butter recipe
• Almond and Hazelnut Praline
• Salted butter caramel

Don't forget to tag me @sweetlycakes on Instagram if you make my Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread recipe and add a link to my recipe if you share it on your blog 😉