If you love hazelnuts and chocolate, this ultimate indulgence is definitely something you should not pass up! Store bought Nutella is full of sugar, preservatives, food conditioners and hidden ingredients that you won’t want to ingest a lot of. Besides, it’s not exactly cheap too.
So, why not make your own Nutella or hazelnut chocolate spread instead? You get to control what you put in it and it’s healthier, more natural and tastes just as good, if not better!!!
I made a batch on homemade Nutella or hazelnut chocolate spread recently. Contrary to what you may think, it is SO easy to make!
It involved some roasting, some stove top cooking and loads of blending!
I roasted the hazelnuts for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, rub off the skin and place it in the blender. Then, I melted a bar of dark chocolate (get the 80% cocoa, zero sugar type) by microwaving it in a microwavable bowl for about a minute.
Let the melted chocolate cool a bit but not too much or it may harden. Then pour it on top of the hazelnuts in the blender. On the stove, heat up fresh coconut milk, add a pinch of salt, a few tablespoons of honey and whisk till its combined. Blend the chocolate and hazelnuts till smooth before adding the coconut milk mixture. Blend another 5 minutes or so or until it became a smooth rich creamy chocolate mixture.
Spoon it into containers and let cool before refrigerating for several hours for it to firm up. Of course by now you’re probably salivating at the wonderful aroma so I won’t blame you if you sat right down and started spooning heaps of it into your mouth…well, I resisted and let it refrigerate for a few hours. However, after a couple of hours, it is only a pudding-like consistency but I couldn’t resist so I did ate a few spoonfuls of hazelnut chocolate ‘pudding’…one word ‘HEAVEN’.
Anyway, after refrigerating for more than 5 hours, it will have firmed up to a consistency like the store bought Nutella spread. You can spread it on bread, on crackers or heck, you can eat it as it is.
Here’s the recipe proper:
Healthy homemade Nutella
Or Hazelnut Chocolate Spread
Ingredients
2 cups raw hazelnuts
2 cups fresh coconut milk / nonfat milk
(Or 1 cup coconut cream, 1 cup coconut milk)
200g dark chocolate, 80% cocoa, sugarfree
A pinch of salt
3 tablespoons raw honey
Instructions
1. Roast the hazelnuts at 180 C for 15 minutes.
2. Rub off the skin and pour the nuts into the blender.
3. In a bowl, break chocolate into small pieces and melt it in the microwave ( zap it for about a minute)
4.on the stove, pour the coconut milk into a pan, add the honey and salt and heat it up over medium heat. Whisk till it’s well combined.
5. Blend the nuts and chocolate for about 5 – 10 minutes until it became a smooth creamy consistency.
6. Add the coconut milk mixture to the creamy chocolate hazelnut mixture. Blend for another 5 – 10 minutes until it is all well combined and the mixture is a smooth chocolate mixture.
7. Pour into containers and refrigerate for over 6 hours.
8. Use as spread on bread, crackers or eat it as it is!
