Nuts are our ingredient of the season. You can visit our full archive of nut posts here.
When we picked nuts as our ingredient of the season, I was excited because I knew it would encourage me to try some new recipes, and this homemade nutella is the perfect example. We are a nutella-loving household, but I had never thought to make my own until now.
If you aren’t familiar with Nutella, it’s a chocolate and hazelnut-based spread from Italy. The original recipes consisted of mostly chocolate and hazelnut, but unfortunately the main ingredients for the modern recipe are sugar and palm oil. And that’s why this is a treat worth making at home, because as you’ll see, this recipe has a solid base of hazelnuts and chocolate. Of course, it also means that making this batch will cost more than picking up a jar from your local market, particularly if you buy quality hazelnuts and choclate, but I think you’ll discover that it’s worth the price. Additionally, jars of homemade nutella make great gifts from the kitchen {in fact, if only I had thought about it sooner, this would have been the perfect treat for Easter baskets!}.
Ingredients
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- 12 ounces milk chocolate
- 3 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Toast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet in a 350F oven. Be sure to stir them every few minutes, and they will be done when they just start to brown and their skins blister (may take anywhere from 7-10 minutes).
- Once done, immediately pour the nuts onto a clean kitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove the skins. It's ok if some skins remain stuck to the nuts. Let them cool completely before using.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (we like to use a pyrex measuring cup in a pot of simmering water).
- In a food processor, finely grind the hazelnuts until they begin to form a paste. Add the oil, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and vanilla, and continue processing until the mixture is as smooth as possible. Add the melted chocolate and blend well.
- If there are any chunks of hazelnuts, strain them out. The nutella will be thin and runny until it cools. It will keep on the counter for up to two weeks (if it lasts that long!).
It’s common to spread nutella on toast, but that doesn’t interest me. I prefer it with a banana or on a scoop of vanilla ice cream. How do you eat your nutella? Straight from the spoon?
WOW! I just noticed this post (traveling makes it hard to keep up!) and I can’t wait to make a batch of this. And you’re right, I need to file this away for christmas food gifts, this will definitely impress the other side of my fam. xoxox
I heard you were traveling! You should definitely make a batch – it’s so tasty on ice cream and, of course, by the spoonful :-).